


Silver, Clay, And Other Minerals

by SkullSummonerMina



Category: Original Work
Genre: Brainwashing, Crossdressing, Enemies to Lovers, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Magical Boys, Shapeshifting, Villain Redemption, non-sexual tentacles, rock people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2019-10-23 20:37:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 36,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17690450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkullSummonerMina/pseuds/SkullSummonerMina
Summary: Kao is a magic blob of clay. Wyn is a Metallic Knight, and has tried to kill Kao quite a few times.But Wyn has been kidnapped. Wyn has been brainwashed.Now Kao has to convince Wyn they've been in love for years and that his enemies are his friends, his friends enemies. Otherwise, Wyn might actually manage to kill him this time.Never mind. Kao suspects Wyn will manage to kill him anyway.





	1. Chapter 1

The Silver Metallic Knight, second in power only to their cursed leader, lay at the feet of Kao and Calx. Without armor he looked so much smaller, only the size of a normal human man. Pale yellow hair, beige skin with pinkish undertones, covered in the dots of pigment known as freckles. The largest concentration spread from his rather large nose, but all areas of exposed skin seemed covered. It would make copying the man needlessly complicated. But there was one trait that annoyed Kao much more.

The Silver Knight was still alive. 

What a waste of time. Their Lord could have just handed Kao a picture. 

Still, if Calx was giving orders, then they came from Lord Sikyon, and their Lord was not one to argue with. "I've seen enough to copy him. Open his eyes so I can recreate the colour, then you can kill him."

"You think you're here to replace the Silver Knight?" Calx said, a huff of air at the end of his question showing his distain. "Lord Sikyon wants you to seduce him."

Kao heard the statement, but he didn't understand it.

"It is simple, see?" Calx continued, "I wiped the Knight's memories, then made it so he think he's one of us. But I can't do everything for you. So turn into something nice and makes sure he stays in line."

Lord Sikyon was their leader, their creator. He had formed his legion from the soils of this alien world. Who was Kao to question a god’s wisdom?

The Silver Knight twitched in his sleep. 

This plan was insane.

They did not even know what the man’s name was. Yes, Calx could create illusions in the man’s mind, and cover the rest with darkness, but obtaining actually useful information? Well, apparently that was up to Kao. 

Kao had been given life from a lump of clay. He could become anything he wanted. Anything Lord Sikyon demanded. But what could possibly be fit for this assignment? Kao tried to think back, flicking through human forms he had become. Those previously used to try and trick the Metallic Knights would be out of the question—

Noise came from the Silver Knight. A groan of distress. So much for time.

Kao simply stayed the way he was, and hoped it would not immediately remind the Silver Knight of battle.

The human rubbed at his face, as if that would help what had happened to him. He looked so weak without armour, soft, squishy. Kao could have easily killed him. Surely eliminating the second most powerful of their enemies made more sense than this convoluted plan?

Yet what was the point of complaining? If Kao did as he was told and failed, the Silver Knight would kill him. If he disobeyed their master, Lord Sikyon would do far worse.

"Finally, you’re awake!" Kao hoped his smile was a proper imitation of comforting and trustworthy. Facial expressions were far too complex for Kao's liking. Tilt the corners of your mouth up, but not too high. Movement couldn't be too fast and had to conform to how a human face would transition from one shape to the other. It was annoying. At least his worry was real. "Can you remember your name?"

The Silver Knight looked up at him. "I think so?"

Kao inclined his head. He had seen people do that before.

The Silver Knight's face had always been safe behind a helmet, and so this was the first time Kao had a proper look at the man's eyes. They were blue, and wide. 

Confused? Good. Someone off-balance would be easier to deal with. "Wyn? I’m—yeah, that’s me. Who are you?"

Kao inched his smile wider.

*

It was a strange creature that looked down at Wyn. A person, but without shading, without color, the eyes the same cream as the skin, and all the features unfinished. Long hair pooled on the floor where it sat, and the strands bled into each other. Limbs were thin, but gracefully so, and anything else was hidden behind a short tunic. Well, almost. Maybe 'tunic' wasn't the right word. Maybe 'hand towel vaguely tied together at the sides' was more accurate.  
Wyn could feel his face burning already.

"I’m Kao. You don’t remember?" The creature asked, and when they spoke the words were oddly flat, as if they were reading them out loud from a book. The smile from before became a pout with their next words. "We went to all the trouble to rescue you and you don’t remember us at all?"

"No, I—Sorry." Everything came back blank. That couldn’t be right. Why couldn’t he--? His head hurt, a pounding pain each time he tried to think. "There was a fight, a battle?" 

For the first time he looked away from Kao to see their strange surroundings. It was like the inside of a melted candle. Light moved, tinged with green and red, the colors overlapping but never combining, dulled by a thin layer of grime that rubbed off on his hands as he pushed himself into a sit. "What is this place? 

"We are in the floating caves of Pelion." Kao snorted. "One of the least pleasant sections."

Wyn found himself again distracted by Kao as the creature moved closer. Nearer, Wyn saw how matte the surface of their body was was, as if it would be dusty to the touch. "Fine, I’ll explain. You were captured by our enemy, the Metallic Knights—" 

Kao paused, and Wyn found himself staring at the gap between Kao’s tunic and their chest. It was flat. Maybe this creature was a man? But what was he? And if Wyn was one of Kao’s compatriots, then what was Wyn? He touched his fingers together to find them fleshy, and that felt right to him. 

"They confused your mind. Made you believe that you were one of them, but now you’re safe!" Kao smiled again. Wyn decided he looked beautiful. Odd, but definitely beautiful. "You may still be confused, but that’s fine. Our Lord will explain everything."

Wait, what was this then? That didn’t feel right at all. "Our Lord?"

"Lord Sikyon."

Oh, the name was familiar. That was better. Maybe he was making some progress after all. "Sikyon. Kao." Wyn ticked the named off with his fingers then with a shrug pointed to himself. "Wyn."

"Yes. Good." Kao agreed, yet something in the tone sounded too hollow. "We are his Archontes, for Lord Sikyon created us all from the rocks of Earth—"

"I’m made of rock?"

"Well," Kao’s smile faltered and Wyn felt like he’d done something wrong. "I was created from clay but you, ah—It seems those Metallic Knight truly confused your mind! That Golden Knight, her powers-- I bet she did something to change your form. Made you human. It’s terrible. You must feel terrible."

Wyn was about to agree when Kao jumped to his feet and grabbed Wyn’s arm, hauling him up as well. 

"Let’s get find Calx. Whatever has been done to you must be looked at further." His skin was smooth, not dusty as Wyn had thought it would be, and Kao’s hand was cool. 

Kao tugged.

Wyn didn’t move. Kao was right, he felt terrible. Something in his blank mind screeched at him that all of this was wrong, but he couldn't tell what part, or why.

Kao’s smile fell. "Come."

Wyn was lost, his mind a blank everywhere it shouldn’t be. But Kao’s smile had made him feel a bit better, and he wanted it back. Wyn tightened his hand around Kao’s and let himself be led away. 

*

Kao hated Lord Sikyon’s throne room, but then Kao hated so many things. Earth. The Pelion Caves. His enemies. His allies. And, although he feared even openly thinking it, he hated his creator most.

Lord Sikyon, a tiny pale head poking out of a mass of robes, stared down at them from his throne. Damn thing was high enough they had to crane their necks just to glimpse his boots. How their Lord even got to his own throne, Kao had no idea. Their Lord was always just there. Perhaps it was a part of him. 

Calx was already in line, as were Feld and Agar. The smug bastards smirked as Kao entered, still dragging the Silver Knight along by the hand.

"You have arrived sooner than expected, Kao." Lord Sikyon sounded displeased with him. That was normal. Dangerous, but normal.

"My Lord." Polite deferral sometimes helped. "Wyn has woken, yet I fear he may still be a little confused." He gave Calx a glare.

Had the idiot even bothered to put anything in the Silver Knight’s head after he had emptied it? Was Kao really expected to make up an entire cover story on his own? Ugh, he was going to foist this insane mission on others as much as he could. Calx should be the one dealing with the human, not Kao.

The Knight gave a cautious wave to the other Archontes. "Hello?"

Sikyon frowned. Kao pinched the man’s thumb.

With a jolt the knight turned to Lord Sikyon. "I, ah, sorry. I'm still really confused."

Kao pinched harder.

"Lord Sikyon." The knight added with haste, then tried to get out of Kao’s grip.

Kao made sure to harden his hand. "It may be best if Calx gave him more treatment."

"You seem to have good leash on him already." Of course Feld had to jump in when he wasn’t needed. Behind him Agar snickered. Always the lackey, that little pincushion. 

Lord Sikyon silenced them all with a wave, his magic dimming the torches around them. "Perhaps there is a truth in Kao's excuses. I will explain everything myself."

With another flick of gnarled hand a screen appeared below the throne, images passing across like light on a waterfall.

"Long ago in ancient times," Sikyon narrated as images passed, "humanity was created from the Earth by Gods, much as I created you all."

Although, Kao internally interjected, by Gods who had done a much more competent job.

"But the humans forgot their creators, forsook those they remembered, and stole their powers."

Ungrateful bastards, etcetera. Kao snuck a glance at Wyn. 

"Long centuries I slumbered, enchained—"

The Knight watched intently, a slight frown on his face. Was he believing it? If he did, then did he care?

"—Freeing myself, I found this horrid world, where the buildings scrape the sky, alchemic fire runs through every home, powering infinite divices of distractions. the corpses of my once companions were wielded as weapons against me. Seeking now only to escape, I created you, my Archontes, to go where I couldn't, and collect what was needed so that I may finally return home, leaving this wretched world behind."

No mention or image was made of how that collection went about. Were they to hide that from their captive then? Fine, Kao was fine with not discussing such things.

But then came the important part, the real test of whether this might work. An image rippled of figures in shining armour, flowing robes of different colours, gaudy weapons in their hands.

"Alas! My efforts have been hindered by the Metallic Knights."

They flashed across the screen. Bronze, Iron, Gold.

There was a twitch, a tightening of fingers at the sight of the Golden Knight, but Kao kept his arm solid at Wyn’s attempt to move. The picture changed. The moment passed.

Then the screen turned silver.

"The fiends even took one of my own from me. You, Wyn. They perverted your form to more resemble their own with stolen magic. It was only through great sacrifice we were able to return you, my Archon created of Carbon."  
‘Great sacrifice’. Well, what comfort that acknowledgement would give Chthon.

Fine, Kao didn’t really care. The man had been a bastard. That he had any praise in death rankled, really. None before had gotten any. As for those left—

Maybe, Kao wondered, maybe if he did pull this insane plan off. But he would rather have his life than a second of praise he wasn’t around to hear.

With one last wave the screen vanished. "Now, I see you still harbor confusion. Calx, take Wyn to his rooms. See if you can improve upon your healing. Feld, Agar, leave us. Kao, remain."

Calx’s expression as he walked towards them was amusing, but not enough to make up for Lord Sikyon’s last words. Kao let Wyn’s hand go. Alone. With Lord Sikyon. Clearly shifting blame wasn’t going to work. If Wyn did not live up to Lord Sikyon’s expectations Kao would suffer for it, and it looked like he was going to already.

"Kao." Wyn looked worried, glancing back from Calx to Kao. Then he smiled, and what was that supposed to mean? "I’ll see you later." 

Kao didn’t bother to fake a smile back. He turned his face to the floor and cursed his entire existence.

*

"Oh don’t seem so concerned." The one called Calx rolled his alarmingly neon eyes as he led Wyn down a tunnel. "That idiot’s always getting into trouble. Serves him right. I all but hand this to him and he fumbles? I cannot believe we were really created together."

Leaving Kao behind felt like a mistake. Danger had all but radiated off the situation. These people were his allies, Kao had shown him only kindness, you didn’t just leave someone behind when they were clearly—

He stopped. How had Wyn let himself be led away by this new stranger? Maybe there was still time to go back.

"Oh now, none of that." Calx twirled a lime green finger and Wyn felt compelled to keep following. "Yes, I see touch ups are dearly needed. Honestly though, what did they expect me to do on such short notice?"

‘What are you talking about?’ Wyn thought he said, but no words came out. He could only trail behind Calx, could only see Calx. The cool pulsing glow of his skin was so much more familiar than Kao’s had been. While Kao had seemed like a statue given life, Calx looked as if he had always been a breathing, bleeding, living creature.

Lord Sikyon had said Wyn had been altered. Was Calx more like what he had once been? It wasn’t a pleasant thought. His body felt perfectly normal already, he didn’t want to change—

When had Calx gotten so close? When had Wyn been backed up against the wall? "I said to stop thinking about that."

"I—?"

"You’re one of us now," Calx continued. "No, you always have been. 'Carbon', Lord Sikyon said? Well, what’s chosen is chosen and unlike Kao I can adapt to what our Lord gives me."

Wyn wanted to push Calx away. His body didn’t listen to him. The green surrounded everything.

"Stop asking so many questions, hm?"

Where—? No, what--?

There was hot breath against his face. It didn’t smell right. Sharp, light. "This would be so much easier if I did not have to involve that failure, but Lord Sikyon’s plans must be adhered to."

It was as if he did not even have a body to try to move. He could feel, vaguely, a wet trail along his cheek that traced a path up to his ear.

"I could do anything now, couldn’t I?" Calx whispered. "But, I suppose I have a sense of duty. Kao should really be more thankful for what I do for him."

Kao—

The green worked itself into his mind, wrapping around that thought. "Well, I suppose I can anchor to that, then. You’re worried about poor little Kao? Do you want to know a secret? It’s really tragic, you know?"

Wyn felt himself nod.

"You see, this is all really your fault…"


	2. Chapter 2

A haggard sleep-like state was all Kao managed, and then another day of impossible tasks was upon him. He opened his eyes. Stared at the ceiling. Shifted his mass around a bit.

He still felt terrible.

Lord Sikyon had made it very clear that Kao’s lack of effort in this mission was unacceptable. Kao’s only power was shape shifting. If he couldn’t use that to tie a young man around his finger than what was he good for?

It wasn’t as if Kao hadn’t pretended to be someone else before. But those times he had known what to be. What was he supposed to become here? What was he meant to do?

Was it really his fault if Lord Sikyon had created him with such a useless power?

Fault or not, it was his problem to deal with.

He looked down. Well it was a bit late to pretend to be a woman, wasn’t it?

Maybe he could play before off as a temporary form?

Shove around some flesh, fill out some areas more than others. He hated to go too big, but was that what human men were into? He’d never quite understood how humans decided who they wanted. Feld had tried to explain once. It had been horrible and also nonsensical.

The end result was similar in structure to a disguise he had used in an attempt to replace a pop-star. He made sure to change the face as that particular plot had gone rather poorly once the Metallic Knights had shown up. No need to give their guest a flashback.

It had not been one of Kao’s better moments. Vocal chords were so difficult to manipulate.

Colour and texture were tedious. He didn't bother.

Now clothes. He gave a glance at the closet. Yes, he could create anything he wanted, but what he wore now was merely flesh given a fabric-like form. Pelion was cold. Kao hated cold.

Most of his collection was stolen from wherever he’d been sent to infiltrate. Shirts, coats, scarves, anything that had looked good at the time. He grabbed a large sweater from the pile. It was long enough to be risqué without flashing anyone, even if he had bothered to construct something down there. The rest was pleasantly baggy.  
Maybe he could try to give his hair an actual style—

Something hit the door. It did it again.

Wait. Knocking, that was someone knocking. No one ever did that. It could only be--

The source of all this trouble stood there, hand frozen mid-air when Kao opened the door. 

"Ah!" The man looked worse than he when he had first woken, jittery now, darkness under his eyes. He jumped back, gave Kao a confused look, then flushed red. "Um, Kao?"

"It is." 

Wyn’s glance down to the bottom of the sweater was quick, but it happened. Still, Kao couldn’t make himself feel pleased.

"Oh. I’m to report to you for training." Wyn said. He stood straight, but glanced uneasily at the cave walls. "I uh, got a message. From a thing."

Chthon had been the one with a power closest to that of Sikyon’s, and the fool had thought enough of himself to attempt imitation. Even with Chthon dead, some of his strange creations lived on. Feld had tried to bet Kao on how long they would last without their master. Kao hadn’t bothered to answer.

In the meantime, the gnarled little dirt blobs were being used as simple labour by whoever was around to order them.

"I see." Kao gestured to follow. Wyn did.

"The Metallic Knight’s armour is their power. We need this power if Wyn is to be of true use," Sikyon had said to Kao. "However, the armour is their connection to their gods, and to each other. Wyn must summon his great shield for us without that connection, Kao."

And he was supposed to do that how? None of the Archontes even knew how the human’s powers worked. Wyn wasn’t supposed to believe he was a human now anyways, so Kao couldn’t just ask him, could he?

"Those dirt blobs," Wyn’s voice cut through his internal moaning. "Are they like us?"

"What?"

"Do they have names?" Wyn continued. "The one this morning couldn’t seem to talk but—"

"No." Kao shook his head. "They’re just things that are sometimes useful. They aren’t important."

The ‘training’ area was just one of the larger caves, with a ceiling so high and well-lit there was almost the illusion of sky.

Feld stood in the middle of the expanse, grinning. "Late as usual, Kao. Nice sweater."

"What are you doing here?" Kao had a sinking suspicion.

Feld was the one of them that looked the most like a human. Simple enough form, no strange add-ons. Orange, red, brown, he was vibrant, but just barely within the realm of humanity. Oddities were subtle. Improper shapes in his eyes. Always moving and very, very annoying. "Our Lord sent me to help out, as your own powers are not particularly comparable to little Wyn's."

Kao frowned and turned back to Wyn, who really wasn’t that little.

The man seemed to take the insult in better stride than Kao would have. He merely shrugged. "Well, any help is welcome."

"Excellent." In a blast of hot air Kao knew was for show, Feld’s outfit went from some sort of toga jumper to bondage chic. Their Lord had gifted them with limited teleportation magic for important matters, and yet most Archontes used them as quick-change closets for dubious fetish wear. 

Well, it was not as if Kao could talk, but Kao liked to think it was the little details that mattered. Feld did it because he liked to, Kao—

Had to dodge a blast of heat that nearly took off his head.

Bastard. Kao jumped back to miss the second attack.

"Hey—" Wyn’s confused attempt at intervening was not very helpful.

"This is my power," Feld said as if it were a reply. "Granted by my Lord. Some of us, sadly, were gifted better than others.

The smug ass.

"Kao here could attack me back but he won’t." Feld threw another blast that Kao barely dodged.

"Because it hurts, you ass." Damnit, Kao was not losing his sweater for a petty fight. "Now stop."

"Yeah, I think I get the idea." Wyn sounded worried, but about what? He wasn’t the one getting chased around a cave by an insane blow dryer.

"Then show us your power, little Wyn." Feld almost got Kao with that one. He had to warp form to avoid it.

A demonstration was one thing, but this wasn’t training. This was toying with Kao, and although long established as one of Feld’s favourite hobbies, Kao couldn’t see how this was accomplishing anything.

The next blast was too close. It singed the shoddy textile of the sweater, melting an unfixable hole.

That. Bastard.

At this, Kao was forced to retaliate. His hair elongated, lashing Feld’s hand enough to spoil his aim.

As always, slapping a man made of rock wasn’t pleasant, but Kao was irritated enough to throw away caution even if he winced afterwards.

Which it seemed had been Feld’s plan all along. 

Kao took too long to retract, and a larger target was an easier target. The next blast of heat cracked his hair solid.

Now that hurt.

The follow up to his abdomen was worse.

Kao had never been one to ignore pain, just as he had never been able to ignore any slight. An insult, a deliberate inconvenience, a shot of molten air to the chest. It was all the same, really.

"Hey!"

Feld ignored Wyn’s repeated yelling and pressed his advantage. Soon Kao was backed into a corner.

Never mind the sweater now, he was flaking everywhere. "Are you actually trying to kill me, you idiot?"

Feld laughed. His next blast solidified and cracked Kao’s leg, toppling him sideways.

What was Feld doing? Lord Sikyon would never forgive the murder of one of his Archontes by another. 

Would he?

Feld raised his power again.

A bright flash. Movement. Then darkness.

Not because Kao was dead, but because he lay in the shadow of the Silver Knight.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing?" Heat evaporated off the Silver Knight’s shield. "This is way past training! This is insanity!"

"But it worked." Feld’s grin was more annoying for his being correct.

The Silver Knight stood before them. Not wide-eyed Wyn, whose apologetic confusion coloured any view of him. The bright silver armour hid all that under an impenetrable shell of scaled metal. For that was the strength of the Silver Knight. Miraculous defence, culminating in a massive shield that had soaked up every attack any Archon or minion had hit it with. Feld’s heat was nothing against that shield. 

"Great, I don’t care. Back off." The silver shield was not nearly as powerful as the axe wielded by the Golden Knight, but it could still kill Feld. Or Kao.

Feld had the decency to look uneasy at the command. "Yeah, okay. Whatever. I did my job." He gave a little wave, then used his teleportation trick for something more useful than costume change.

Kao stayed still, watching the up and down of the Silver Knight’s breathing move plates of metal. Before, being this close to a Metallic Knight meant death. Even knowing the Silver Knight had saved him, Kao could not shake that association.

The Knight turned, hesitated, then raised the front of his helmet. "Sorry, I should have been faster." It was Wyn’s confused face underneath.

"Egh," was all Kao could really manage. Most of the tubes that controlled airflow had been hardened by the heat. He tried to work on them first but it would take hours for to re-generate the mess Feld had made. 

He attempted a stand, yet it appeared his mass didn’t want to make another leg quite yet.

"Here." The hand that grabbed his arm was encased in silver, a thick glove of plate and chainmail.

All of Kao that was not hardened already froze.

Wyn did not seem to notice as he pulled Kao up. "Can you teleport as well or--?"

"Not," Kao managed. He was normally not half as powerful as Feld. Getting fried did not help that power gap. "Not right now."

"I seem to be stronger like this," Wyn’s grip certainly felt powerful. "Can I carry you?"

Kao’s noise was apparently taken as assent. He was hefted into the Knight’s arms. His cracked limb dropped off, useless, and shattered on the floor, much startling Wyn.

"Uh, shit, do you need that?"

"It’s fine," Kao mumbled. "Regenerate soon."

"Oh, like a lizard?" For some reason that seemed to cheer Wyn.

Kao had no energy to try and understand. "Need sleep."

"Ah, sorry." Finally, Wyn started them off. "I’ll get you to your room no problem."

By this time the shame was worse than the physical pain. How embarrassing this was, having to be helped such by an enemy.

Then again--

Kao had the Silver Metallic Knight carrying him. Maybe he had done what he was supposed to by being pathetic.   
At least Kao had enough power to rez the lock to his door. Wyn duly carried him to the bed, where Kao was arranged in a pile.

Wyn glanced about the room, then back to Kao.

Even with the unease of having the Silver Knight standing over him in bed, Kao realized he was probably supposed to pretend he was grateful. "Thank you."

Wyn nodded, then went back to awkwardly staring before giving a little start. "Oh! I guess I can turn back now."

Another flash and then Wyn looked like a nice, normal, weak human again. "Can I get you anything, food or--?"

"Sleep." What was so hard to understand about that?

"Right, okay." A pause. "I guess uh, should I leave now? I should leave now."

Kao was probably supposed to get Wyn to stay, but the thought of the Silver Knight in his room as he slept, well, would he actually be able to sleep?

"Kao?"

He was too tired to bother. If Wyn stayed, he stayed.

"I’ll be fine in a few hours." The Silver Knight wasn’t going to kill him unless the man had a sudden flashback attack, and Kao was going to have to accept that. "Do what you want."

Wyn’s expression softened, the crinkled eyebrows going back to the regular slightly tilted position. "Well, I’ll just stand guard. Don’t worry."

Sure. Fine. Kao was too tired to argue. Too tired to force himself to stay alert. He faded out as his body tried to regenerate more than a fifth of its mass.

As he faded, he felt something touch what remained of his hair. For an instant he tensed but the touch stayed light. He finally dozed off just as he heard strange words.

"I’m sorry I forgot you."


	3. Chapter 3

Apparently Wyn had also thought it a good time to nap, for when Kao awoke, his body back to the correct amount of mass, Kao found Wyn sprawled over the side of the bed, one hand on the floor. Wyn hadn’t even stolen a sheet.

Kao stared at him. So, was he to leave the human or--?

Wyn’s torso made an odd noise Kao was able to place after a moment of thought.

Kao poked him.

This disturbed Wyn’s already messy hair but did little else.

Kao pushed him over.

"Ack!" Wyn sputtered against the stone floor before quickly righting himself. "Uh—"

"Have you eaten?" Kao asked.

"I don’t—" Wyn looked around the room, as if he was surprised he had awoken in the same place he had fallen asleep in. "Not today, I think, no?"

How often did humans need to eat? More than Kao did, at least. "If you were hungry, why did you stay here?"

"Uh, I said I'd watch over you. Plus," Wyn’s mouth made a straight line. "I don’t know where anything is."

It was nice to once again have legs to stand on. "I suppose I should show you then."

Kao stopped once he got a clear look at his own body. He had reverted to his more common, thinner, obviously not a woman form in his sleep. It was even more obvious since he was wearing a ruined sweater with a hole burnt through the side.  
Kao caught Wyn staring before the man made a small noise and decided the wall was interesting. He tried not to sigh as his flesh rippled. "Right, I’ll just—"

"No!" Wyn’s outburst seemed to surprise even himself, and the man took a moment to re-group before continuing. "I mean, please, just don’t change anything on my account."

All of this was on his account!

Still, Kao did not resume shifting.

"Well," Less effort and no breasts were on the table, Kao would take the offer regardless of how little it made sense. "If you prefer."

"No, I mean, well I guess I prefer." 

Kao was still too sleepy for this. 

"You don’t have to do what I say."

What a nice joke.

"I mean, you look nice how you are anyway."

Also a funny joke.

Fine, Kao could shift an extra limb; he could force a smile. They were both moving around mass. "I’ll grab something to wear. Then I’ll show you were we keep the food."

The amount of food required to survive varied by the Archon. Kao barely ate. Agar barely stopped.

In Kao’s opinion, it was far more efficient to siphon off energy when sent out to harvest. As long as Lord Sikyon never found out, at least.

Still, food, such as it was, could be obtained at the storage cavern. Alongside various non-perishable goods were dozen of boxes filled with canned miscellany. They were the fruits of Chthon’s glorious raid on a Walmart loading bay.

"Beans. Some sort of children’s noodles." Kao held up can after can. "Italian wedding?"

Soup titles were another human practice he could not understand.

He passed that can to Wyn. "Eat this one. It seems to have meat."

Their fingers touched. Wyn made an unplaceable face. Kao adjusted his skin texture.

Wyn obediently trailed behind on the search for a heat source to warm the meal.

Perhaps, just maybe, this would not be so terrible. This was like having one of those dogs humans raved about. Maybe they could try that fetch thing later.

Kao turned back, catching Wyn once again lagging behind to ogle some outcropping of living stone. 

Or get a leash.

Boring as it was to watch someone else eat, watching such a dangerous enemy be so docile, so reliant on Kao—

Lord Sikyon had told Kao to ‘seduce’ the Silver Knight. Well, here Wyn was following Kao around with no thoughts to his former comrades. Some assignments had come close, but this was what it felt to have real power over someone. 

Kao liked it.

Mostly.

Wyn’s weird looks were wearing on his nerves.

Kao had stayed the way he had woken because Wyn had said to. He had tried to create a more normal skin texture when Wyn had flinched at his touch. But still the man stared a hole in his back, looking at him like, well, Kao wasn’t sure what it was like, but he wasn’t happy about it.

Of course Wyn tried to be subtle, only staring openly while trailing after Kao, but Kao could have eyes on the back of his head if he wanted to.

In rightful vengeance Kao secretly stared back. That posture made the man look half his size. Did he even brush his hair? That was the same pants and shirt the man had been captured in, wasn’t it? 

Kao stopped walking. Wyn nearly bumped into him.

He swiveled a bit too fast for his eyes to catch up to his face, but Wyn’s shock was ignored. Kao was too busy sizing the man up. 

Maybe of a size. Probably would fit. 

Wyn’s face went from confusion to beet red as Kao lingered over the waist. Chthon had been a bit thicker. Well, belts could be stolen as easily as anything else.

It was time to raid the closet of a dead man.

 

*

 

Seeing Wyn unclothed was an odd experience.

Without his magical armour Wyn appeared so much smaller, weaker. Without bulky denim and cloth—

He seemed a little less pathetic. There was some muscle under there after all. At least as much as Feld. Perhaps not all of Wyn’s strength was stolen from the Gods. 

"Uh, can’t you just hand me the clothes from over there?" Of course Wyn made things awkward. The man even refused to completely change his clothing.

Kao waved the small pair of pants that had formerly belonged to Chthon in the air. "There’s little point if you refuse to take any of the undergarments into consideration. If you wear dirty clothes under clean, you’ll still be dirty."

Now, Kao knew why people wore the skimpy things, they had parts to hide that Kao didn’t bother with, but why, oh why, were they so strange about them?

"Taking a dead man’s underwear is, I don’t know, it’s just too far for me, okay?" Wyn had his back against the corner of Chthon’s storage nook. It seemed that when he turned colors the red went far past his face.

As useful as it was to learn new things about human skin functions, Kao was on his last nerve. This is what he got for trying to help! "Well I do not have any for you to borrow, and I doubt Agar nor Feld feel generous enough to share."

This only seemed to upset Wyn further. "You don’t?"

Kao said nothing and assumed his glare spoke enough of an answer. He had been practising it. "If that is a line you cannot cross, then simply go witho--!"

"Okay!" Wyn kept turning deeper shades of red but the novelty was wearing off. "Okay, I’ll take the underwear! Just please, turn around first!"

Fine. 

"And uh, keep your eyes, uh, you know."

Fine!

Kao waited. He resisted the urge to do whatever he damn well pleased with his eyes. He waited some more. "Are you done yet?"

"Yeah, sure." Some rustling noise. "These pants are kinda big."

Turning to look was purely for show, Kao didn’t actually pay attention. He was done with this. "Fine. Grab anything you want and we’ll take it to your room."

"Why can’t I just use the clothes I had before?"

The screeching noise of a train about to go off the rails shot through Kao’s head.

"My rooms have nothing in them," Wyn continued. "Did this happen to me after I was kidnapped? Did everyone just take my stuff? I wasn’t dead."

Ah, situation recovered. Nice of Wyn to give his own excuse even if it made them all sound terrible. Kao could turn this. Just stick to what was important. "No one thought you would come back. You forgot us. You tried to kill us."

"I—"

"It doesn’t matter." Kao fluttered a hand, trying to wave off Wyn’s further protests. Calx was supposed to deal with this backstory business. What had the bastard even done?

Kao turned to go; Wyn didn’t follow.

Kao stifled a sigh and glanced back. "Right, I’m not—"

"Stop." Wyn stood straight with clenched fists. "Stop hiding that you’re mad at me."

Great, what was this new outburst? "I’m not—"

"I’m dumb, but even I can tell, okay?" Wyn’s face didn’t match his stance. Scrunched eyebrows, thin mouth. It had the hallmarks of anger but something was off. Whatever it was, it still screamed danger. "Besides, look, Calx told me. I didn’t know what to do, but I know I must’ve just made it worse. I hoped I’d remember, but I can’t. No matter how hard I try, I can’t remember anything!"

Oh.

What had Calx done? Nothing? Wyn remembered nothing and he—

"I’m sorry!"

\--was apologizing about it?

Kao stayed very still as Wyn approached. Feasibly he could stab the man with a purposely hardened spike of flesh.  
Wyn put a hand on each of Kao’s shoulders.

Kao braced.

Wyn pulled Kao in and grabbed him tight. Arms locked around Kao’s back, pressing him against Wyn’s chest. It was constricting, warm, oddly not as unpleasant as it should have been. That last part may have been from the shock.

"I wish I remembered," Wyn said mostly into Kao’s hair. "Even without that though, I think—"

What the Hell. What had Calx put in Wyn’s head. What the Hell was happening.

"I still love you."

Kao managed a strangled noise something akin to, "What?"

Wyn pulled back, looked deeply into Kao’s eyes, then pressed their mouths together.

Kao cursed Calx. He curse Lord Sikyon, whose idea this surely was. ‘I want you to seduce him.’ Calx hadn’t meant to simply persuade Wyn into fighting his own former allies with trickery. Calx had meant ‘seduce’ in all the horrible ways Feld had ever described and Kao had been an idiot to think he could ever get out of it.

 

*

 

Kao’s lips were hard, cold, smooth. They made Wyn’s heart race. Was this going too fast? He was going too fast. Shit, he really wished there was a wall nearby he could push Kao against but maybe this was too fast.

He pulled back. Self-restraint. Wyn could do this. He could explain. He could do better than ‘I can’t remember you but I totally love you please love me back.’ Probably. 

He could try.

He was about to say more as Kao’s hand grabbed the back of his borrowed shirt.

Then Wyn was bitten in the ankle by a blob of dirt.

It made a high pitched screech as he jumped back, still holding Kao. The same sort of creature that had brought him to Kao’s room circled his legs. A wad of dirt jiggled in something like a ‘follow me’ gesture as it made a gurgling noise almost like words.

"Uh." 

Kao slipped out of his grip. Literally. Just, sloshed out of Wyn's arms to reform a foot away. "It wants us to go to Lord Sikyon's chamber."

"Oh."

So, that was one way to slow down.

 

*

 

"Agar has been destroyed." Lord Sikyon’s words hung in the vast cavern. "The Metallic Knights have claimed yet another of my Archontes!"

Agar? Wyn had only seen the Archon once but—

"Likely in retaliation for our retrieval of Wyn, the Metallic Knights showed no mercy."

\--Dead. Another comrade dead and Wyn did not even remember them. These people, they were dying around him and he couldn’t even remember them.

Kao’s arm brushed against his side, the cold skin grounding but not enough to keep down the thought: a day earlier and it could have been him. Wyn could have killed Chthon or Agar or Kao or—

He must have tried to. How close had he gotten? Had Wyn ever caused Kao’s limbs to crack and drop off?

A new question came. Harsher, like a shout over all of his other thoughts.

How had Chthon died?

He felt suddenly, horribly, as if he should know the answer.

Oh god. Oh fu—

Wyn was jabbed in the side. 

"Pay attention!" came Kao’s harsh whisper.

"Agar was working on a special mission," Sikyon continued. "A great amount of energy will be lost to us if you do not retrieve the fruits of his last labour. Wyn, this will be your first mission now that you have returned to us. Kao will accompany you."

It couldn’t fix anything. Not Agar, not Chthon, or—

Wyn did not think he was the type who went in for revenge, but maybe that was all he could do now. Get revenge—

This time when Kao’s arm brushed his Wyn took the other’s hand in his and didn’t let go.

\--and protect those who were left.

 

*

 

After they were released from Lord Sikyon’s presence, Kao gripped Wyn’s hand hard as rock and dragged him down one of the tunnels.

"Where are we--?" Wyn tried. Huh, Kao could move really fast when he wanted to.

Kao cut him off with that impatience back in his voice. "Feld’s room. If Agar was hoarding then Feld would know where it was."

Oh, well, all right. He found himself dragged to an ajar door much like every other he had seen in this place. 

With no knock, Kao shoved it open. "Feld!"

"What do you two want now? I’m not in the mood to babysit." Red eyes, red face, a slight sniffle to his words. 

Oh, shit.

Wyn immediately took a step back, but it seemed Kao didn’t realize what they had walked in on.

"We’re the same age, Feld, so just tell me where Agar hid your hoard so I can get this job done."

"Why would I know?" Feld gave a little shrug, its forced casualness clear even to Wyn.

Maybe not to Kao. "Agar was your lackey, if he was hoarding then—"

"Lackey?" Rage squeezed out Feld’s unshed tears. "Lackey?!"

Okay, this was not going well. Wyn put a nice firm hand on Kao’s shoulder. Kao had stopped him from pissing off Sikyon. He hoped Kao could take a similar hint.

Wyn had quickly realized his forgotten lover was a bit, what was a good way to say it? Emotionally clueless? And grumpy. Really grumpy. A bit easy to anger. Prickly?

Hmm.

The point was, Kao wasn’t perfect but hopefully he’d realize--

"What’s wrong with your face? Are you sick or something?"

Kao. Kao please.

Wyn put himself between the two. "Feld, I’m sorry about Agar, he—"

"You don’t even know him!" Feld wasn’t wrong. 

The only solace was his surprise in seeing Kao cutting in to defend him. "Just because Wyn doesn’t remember doesn’t mean—"

"Oh shut up Kao," Feld’s voice dripped with disgust. "You’d understand even less. You never could. I don’t think you’re capable of it!"

Now that wasn’t true. Wyn—

Wyn was proof of that, wasn’t he?

Honestly, it was heartening to see one of the Archontes so obviously care about each other even if it was for such a tragic reason. Wyn hadn’t seen much warmth from any of the other Archontes towards each other. Kao was Wyn’s lover. Calx had said so. It felt right. Kao took care of him despite how painful it must have be. 

Still, Kao kept such a distance. It made Wyn worry--

No, Feld was wrong. Words said in anger weren’t worth a second thought. Of course things would be awkward so soon after what had happened. Wyn just needed to wait.

"Stop, both of you." Wyn shoved himself back into the fray, a physical block between the fighters. "Yelling at each other won’t help anything."

Feld crossed his arms. "It’ll make me feel better."

Okay, maybe that was important to consider but, "Our enemies are the Metallic Knights, not each other. The sooner we get the energy needed the sooner all of this is over, yeah? So please, if you know where Agar was storing his, just tell us." 

 

*

 

"The only part I don’t understand," Wyn said as they made their way from Feld’s room after being given an address, "if Feld knows where Agar stored the energy, why would Sikyon not just send him?"

Kao gave him a look of the type that made Wyn worry about what Feld had said. "If Feld went to retrieve the hoard, then at least half of it would end up inside Feld."

"Oh." Wyn was not sure how best to respond to that. "So, Lord Sikyon trusts us."

Kao moved his body as if in a shrug, but in that odd way he had that showed there wasn't actually a skeleton under there. "Our Lord trusts us more than Feld."

Wyn wished he could just remember already. Who were these people? Their relationships were so hard for Wyn to understand that it felt impossible that he had lived among them. Or had the tension between all the Archontes started after Wyn had been captured? After Chthon’s death?

He stared down at the rock that made up the path. It looked strange. Foreign. Hard to believe he had once lived here.

If only he could remember. 

His head jerked up at the irritated huff from Kao in front of him, but not fast enough to avoid the strand of hair that grabbed his hand and yanked him stumbling forward.

Wyn all but collided into Kao, stopped only by more hair shoving him back upright. "Stop trailing behind me. Feld thinks we can't manage a simple retrieval, so don't prove him right."

Kao’s face was so close to his, the same beautiful statue white of before, but what did that expression mean?

Mostly, Kao looked annoyed.

Okay, that made sense. It had been a bad day. It had to be hard to deal with Wyn on top of all this—

That was it, right?

"Feld’s wrong," Wyn said.

Kao only rolled his eyes, the clump of hair holding Wyn’s face giving a little pat in a way Wyn hoped was affectionate. "Right answer."


	4. Chapter 4

It was after dark and for the city above Lord Sikyon’s domain that meant most businesses were closed. Feld said he had travelled to cities that never slept. This one raced to its bed. The street Kao and Wyn teleported to, named after some random plant life as most in town were, was a late night partier. It would be open until 9pm.

Across from dumpster they had teleported behind, Kao spotted the building Feld had described.

A snack shop. Of course.

Agar had always been a glutton. The deceased Archon’s hair had been the shape and colour of cotton candy mixed with poprocks—

Two food items the Archon had never seen fit to share. 'Oh, look what I have, Kao. Doesn’t it look tasty? Oh, looks like I only have the one pack, oh well!'

\--and sugar had always been on his brain. It was sad but not surprising he would have stored another type of food in the same place he stole his physical sustenance.

Wyn stood beside Kao, heaving a little. Teleportation seemed to affect those not make of rock differently. Oh well. Too late now.

Still, Kao did not want the Silver Knight spending his first mission under Kao’s leash puking. He patted Wyn’s back. Maybe if the man just got it all over with at once?

"I’m fine!" Wyn replied. "M’oka—"

Wyn was not okay.

Wyn was not okay all over the sidewalk.

Well, Kao rationalized as he continued bopping the man’s back, now he had the perfect excuse to avoid any more kissing for the day.

"Sorry."

Perhaps the next week.

Kao’s "It’s fine" may have been too cheery.

Luckily Wyn seemed not to notice, he just grabbed onto Kao’s arm—

He really seemed to have taken to doing that.

\--And hauled himself to his feet. Without actually using Kao as support. What had the grabbing even been for?  
Kao stayed still. It had worked well enough for him so far. Stand still, let Wyn do strange things to him. Survive. Repeat.

"At least we can buy a drink?" Wyn’s voice was still a bit gurgly.

"We do not have any currency," replied Kao, "but we can steal a drink."

Wyn stood a little straighter. "Oh, no that’s okay then."

"I’m going to pocket breath mints as soon as we enter." Shoplifting was incredibly easy when one could absorb objects into your body.

"Kao, that’s—"

Wyn’s admonishment was cut short by the tinkling bell of their entry into the shop. 

No one looked up, not the bored clerk nor the gaggle of patrons. 

If they had, they would have only seen two young men. Completely normal looking men. One a little worse for wear, the other perhaps resembling a certain page spread in last month’s edition of some Korean fashion magazine.

But with longer hair. Kao had to shove excess mass somewhere.

Wyn had poked the permed ponytail upon creation with little concealed wonder. Apparently the difference between fluffy appearance and sold rock feel was just too much for human minds.

"Amazing!" Wyn had said.

Right. Stand still. Let Wyn do strange things to him. "I’ll change the colour. What do you prefer?"

White was fairly uncommon in young humans. He could simply copy the picture as he had with the skin, but his target audience was, after all, Wyn.

"No." Wyn said too fast to not raise Kao’s suspicion. "It’s nice how it is."

Right. Fine.

So perhaps they did look a little odd, standing there in the shop. 

Then again, Kao amended, as an oblivious human girl passed by with hair bleached the same colour as her box of candy, maybe not.

She was also wearing plastic wire cat ears.

And a shirt with some sort of bulbous cartoon cat.

Actually that shirt appeared rather comfortable—

"So where in here could Agar have hidden a hoard of energy?" Wyn said, just a bit too loud.

Suddenly the girl was not so oblivious.

"I mean uh--" Wyn was so obvious when scrambling for words. "For the phone game. On our phones." 

Neither of them had phones, but it seemed the lie was good enough for an uninterested shopper.

"Oh whoops. Sorry?" Wyn said to him after they were alone again. "My question still stands."

Kao only rolled his eyes, maybe a bit too far, judging from Wyn’s worried chuckle. "We wander around until we sense something."

"Sense?" Wyn asked as he followed Kao down a corridor lines with plastic bags in a million bright colours. "We can sense this?"

Kao could sense it.

"It is probable that whatever the Metallic Knights did to you damaged your ability to properly interact with pure energy." There, that was a reasonable excuse. Just blame the enemy for everything. "Just follow me."

It was a dreary box of a store, cut into pieces by aisles and open freezers. Most of it was foreign in origin. At least, Kao assumed so, as he did not recognize the symbols on the packaging. Lord Sikyon had only given his creations knowledge of English.

Well, some Greek but that seemed to never be relevant.

He was jerked both out of his thoughts and physically backwards by Wyn’s fist clutching his sweater.

Which was made of Kao’s flesh, not fabric. Unpleasant.

"They have banana Kit-Kats!" Whatever that series of noises meant, there was no way they merited the enthusiasm in Wyn’s voice.

Kao turned to the package-filled wall. Wyn’s death grip on his back let him do little else. "So?"

Wyn’s smile was bright, not entirely unpleasant, Kao supposed. "Haven’t you heard of these? You can only get them overseas. My uncle used to bring them back for us when he went on business trips when we were kids—"

What. Damnit, Calx. "We were never kids, Wyn."

Wyn’s hand let go.

"Oh." The sound was a little broken. "I forgot."

Not good, Kao had to salvage this. Perhaps misdirection? "It was the Metallic Knights, they must have given you false memories." Anger was a useful distraction.

"I, yeah I guess so." 

The difference between Wyn’s face now and a minute ago was jarring, and, Kao realised with surprise, displeasing. He reached for the candy package. "If you want one, take it."

Wyn just shook his head, brushing past him. "No it’s fine. Let’s just keep looking. Sorry."

Kao absorbed the candy into his arm anyways.

Several aisles later Wyn was still slumping, idly picking at plastic packages. It was not as if there was much for the man to do, yet—

It did not matter. Kao made himself concentrate on sensing the energy. The number of humans that came through the store, touching everything, eating things, made it more difficult. Their traces had to be ignored. He had to find the smell of something larger, more concentrated.

There, a trace of something greater radiated from the back—

"This place is full of weebs, Ravi! You brought me to a store full of weebs!"

"Thomas, shut up. People can hear you!"

Wyn’s head jerked up at the noise but Kao was already corralling him towards the back door. Whatever fight was happening at the entrance didn’t concern them. Kao had the trail now. Get the hoard. Go home. Be in Lord Sikyon’s good graces for once.

Maybe some people looked up as Kao dragged Wyn towards the men’s room but Kao paid them no mind. It was in there, so close.

"Why are we in the washroom?"

Kao hushed him. There, a glimmer in a crack of the wall, shoved between peeling wallpaper and plaster. A tendril of hair pried the hoard out.

Mission accomplished.

"Oh." Wyn’s voice was just a little too close to Kao’s ear. "That’s what it looks like?"

A tiny sliver of glittering greenish yellow crystal, the colours moving as if it couldn’t decide which shade it wanted to be. The hoard was a lot smaller than Kao would think worthy of all this fuss. "Generally."

Right, that didn’t matter. Drag Wyn back to the hall, out the emergency exit, which wasn’t really alarmed despite what the worn sign said, to the narrow space between city buildings where random trash always ended up, get out of there. 

Unfortunately, they were not the only ones using the alley. A man with short black hair and bushy eyebrows leaned against the back of the shop, arms crossed, anger clear on his face turning to surprise as he saw them.

For a moment Kao balanced the expedience of killing the human versus how it would probably upset Wyn, leaning well towards walking a little farther before teleporting. Then the man said one thing:

"Wyn?!"


	5. Chapter 5

A flash of light. The smell of burning metal.

The Bronze Knight stood before them. His anger steaming from his armoured fists.

Kao's hair wrapped around Wyn’s arm in an instant. They had what they needed, time to teleport. The Bronze Knight wasn’t going to ruin Kao’s mission just because he liked hanging out alone in downtown alleys.

Wait, alone?

Kao’s grip on Wyn loosened. "Transform, Wyn. Here is your chance for some revenge."

The Bronze Knight was physically strong, but not nearly as powerful as Gold, or even Iron. He was also dumber than Chthon’s blobs. 

If Kao returned with the energy, Lord Sikyon would be passably satisfied. If Kao returned having destroyed one of the Metallic Knights—

With The Silver Knight as his weapon, he could do it.

Wyn glanced back at him, uncertain, but then the Bronze Knight charged and it seemed that was enough to make up the man’s mind. 

Another flash of light. Kao took the distraction to get behind Wyn. Let the Bronze Knight’s charge be blocked by his own comrade.

"What are you doing?!" A massive bronze fist bounced off the Silver Knight’s shield. "Wyn, what the fuck?"

There was something energizing about finally being able to destroy something that had beaten you so many times. Kao could feel his smile splitting his face in two. 

"Kao?" The Silver Knight’s glance back at him, looking for Kao’s guidance, Kao’s orders.

"Let’s make up for Agar," Kao replied.

"What?" The Bronze Knight threw another punch, this one sticking to the centre of Wyn’s shield. "Get out of the way, it’s me!"

Wyn held the blow too long for it to not be from hesitation. "I don’t know you."

The Bronze Knight kept pressing, fist flaming as if he could simply melt through the silver shield. He couldn’t. He was being stupid. The Bronze Knight was reliable that way. "Don’t know me? I’m your best goddamned friend!" The fist stayed put but the helmet swiveled in Kao’s direction. "What the fuck did you do, you little slimey fu—"

Wyn pushed back. 

The Bronze Knight stumbled. "Oi!"

Wyn charged, bashing his shield into the Bronze Knight hard enough to press him backwards down the alley. "If you’re my best friend—" As the Bronze Knight tried to grab into the sides of the building Wyn only shoved him further. "--why would your first reaction to seeing me be to attack me?"

"Damnit!" The punches did little now that Wyn was pushing back. Not that the Knight gave up trying. "Get out of my way. That creepy shit must have eaten your brain!"

"Stay away from him." The alley was small enough that Wyn’s shield easily blocked the Bronze Knight’s attempts to pass. Yet Wyn wasn’t smearing the Bronze Knight across the pavement either.

The Bronze Knight’s pitiful attempts to get around culminated in punching and gesturing vaguely at Kao, who was safely tucked back behind the Silver Knight. "You damn dirtblob, what did you do?"

Kao pressed against Wyn’s back, just to see more steam come from the Bronze Knight’s fists. The idiot was so distracted he did not notice the tentacle of hair that wrapped around his leg until Kao pulled.

The Bronze Knight crashed to the ground, entangled enough that his pitiful attempts to right himself were futile. All Wyn had to do now was finish him off.

Wyn raised his shield, but stopped. "Kao—"

"Wyn," Kao cut him off before the man could even dare suggest they just teleport out. "If we don’t take care of him now, we won’t have a better chance." 

"You little—!" The knight’s words were cut off by Wyn’s shield slamming into his head. 

But not hard enough to kill.

"Wyn," Kao said will a little more impatience. Damnit, Kao could try to skewer the Knight himself but he wasn’t tough enough to pierce armour. He squiggled the tendrils, trying to search for weak points so he could slither inside the armour.

"Get offa--Goddamnit Wyn, stop listening to that thing!"

At that Wyn raised his shield, and it would have come down with the edge on the Bronze Knight’s neck, it would have decapitated the Knight, or at least broken his spine, but Wyn looked up at the last moment, and shoved Kao away.  
The sense of betrayal only lasted until Kao saw the spear stab into the ground in a crackle of electricity where he had just been and he was able to complete his internal swearing for an entirely different reason.

The other Knights had arrived.

The Iron Knight leapt from the roof, landing beside her spear. She plucked her weapon from the ground as if it hadn’t been driven half-blade deep into concrete. 

Time to leave.

The Golden Knight dropped down beside her.

Definitely time to leave.

"Wyn’s been brainwashed or something by that thing!" The Bronze Knight struggled to his feet, and damnit Wyn was on the other side of the new knights. 

The Iron Knight hefted her spear. "Well that’s easily solved."

"Wyn!" Both Kao and the Golden Knight yelled at the same time.

The Golden Knight was the one Wyn’s helmet turned towards.

Kao knew he had time to teleport if he had simply abandoned Wyn, but to return without the Silver Knight on the first mission—He would not have survived Lord Sikyon’s wrath. So he tried to shift, tried to grab Wyn through the others, drag him back even if it was doomed—

Which of course left him open, and the Iron Knight had always possessed incredible aim.

Kao was not as strong as concrete; the spear blade went through him to the pole. Then it crackled to life. Feld’s hot air had solidified only what it had hit, but the lightening of the Iron Knight’s spear flowed through the entirety of Kao’s form, sparking, burning—

He had no idea how much of himself was left when he hit the ground. He could not see, could barely hear.  
Something grabbed him. 

What was left of him. 

"Kao! Look just stay together okay, stop--"

Oh, now Wyn cared to act. Had the man managed to break through Gold and Iron? Well it was a bit late.

He would have been furious at Wyn had he been able to summon the energy. Kao was too tired. All of him was crumbling, and Wyn’s words faded out with everything else.


	6. Chapter 6

Kao was falling apart in his arms and there was nothing Wyn could do to stop it. He’d hesitated, allowed himself to be separated, and now no matter how he tried to shove the falling clay back against what remained of Kao it wouldn’t stick.

The Metallic Knights were yelling something but he couldn’t listen, couldn’t let them get close. He had to wake up Kao. Kao could teleport. Wyn couldn’t do anything.

This was far worse than Feld. That had destroyed some limbs, but this, there was almost nothing left of Kao, barely a head attached to the sketch of a torso. Feld had only-- Feld—

"I can’t believe you kids fucked up this badly."

Feld blasted the three Metallic Knights hard enough to force them back, grabbed Wyn by the lip of his helmet, then bodily hauled the man into a portal. "Keep a tight hold on Kao there. Things could be bumpy. Never had the knack for this part."

Wyn dimly heard the Knights behind them. He closed them out and concentrated only on holding onto what was left of Kao as they tumbled through the strange lack of space used in teleportation.

Also on not throwing up. It did not help that this trip he had more reasons to feel sick.

They landed hard on cave floor. Wyn managed to tumble and spare Kao most of the fall, but still even more cracked off.

No, this couldn’t happen. He couldn’t lose Kao. He hadn’t even remembered him yet--

"I am going to assume that the mission was not a successful one." Lord Sikyon’s voice sliced through Wyn’s panic. Only then did he look up to realize they had landed in their Lord’s chamber. 

Sikyon stared down from his chair. Calx gave a disapproving look from his spot at the throne’s base.   
"Could have gone better." Wyn’s view was blocked by Feld stepping in front of them. "I thought I’d just make sure they found the hoard, and seemed they had some bad luck with the Metallic Knights popping by." Feld glanced back over his shoulder. "Did you find it by the way?"

"Yes." What the hell did that matter? They had to save Kao. Everything else, any reprimands, punishment, could come later. "Kao’s injured. Please, we have to do something."

Calx—

Calx actually snorted.

Feld cut in before Wyn could react. With a round shrug of one shoulder Feld made it sound like nothing was wrong at all, as if Kao wasn’t laying in a clump at his feet as he regarded Sikyon. "Well if they found the hoard of energy, my Lord, Wyn could likely kick start Kao back into regenerating."

Calx’s face was sour and if Wyn wasn’t holding onto Kao he would have punched it in. "You want to waste energy on Kao, of all—"

"Yes, I will allow this." Sikyon’s tone gave no room for argument.

Fuck Calx’s strange attitude. That could wait too. Wyn got the tiny crystal out, and looked up at Feld, voice pleading, "How do I use this?"

"Give it." Feld fell to a crouch, took the sliver from Wyn’s hand and shoved it in the mass that had been Kao’s chest. "You know, this might not actually work. Even if it does it will take ages—"

"I don’t care." Thank god, something started to happen. A glow. Shining particles. Something Wyn could not quite see, and Kao still looked dead in his arms but something felt different, in a way Wyn could not describe but desperately hoped was not wishful thinking.

"Take Kao back to his room, Wyn. I can obtain any more details of the encounter with the Metallic Knights later," said Sikyon. 

It was enough of a dismissal for Wyn. More so when one of Chthon’s blobs popped up between his feet ready to lead the way. 

Wyn walked in a daze, focusing on following the blob, keeping a hold on Kao, and that was about it. He wasn’t even sure how they got inside the room. He just headed straight to the bed so he could put Kao down.

It was horribly to see Kao laid out like this. There was barely anything. Some of a head, a neck, almost a chest, strands of something, was that hair? Kao didn’t breathe, but he never did. Had it even worked? 

Wyn stared at the rough edges of damage, trying to see if they were regenerating for so long he did not even notice when he transformed out of his armour.

This was nothing compared to the fight with Feld. This was—

"Kao." The word sounded tiny, broken. He had sworn to protect those who were left, get vengeance on the Knights, but in his very first chance what had he done? "I fucked up."

Kao didn’t respond.

Wyn pulled up the sheets, covering Kao to the chin. Took off his shoes. Got into the bed beside Kao. He paused for a moment, then went closer, slow enough to touch his forehead to what was left of Kao’s. "I’m sorry."

*

Wyn spend most of his time watching Kao, sleeping, or trying to talk to Chthon’s blobs. He could identify some of them now. They seemed to have decided that with Kao asleep his room was now a play zone. They wobbled around, made strange squeaks at each other, and sometimes helped Wyn not fall into a depression coma.

They even delivered cans, and after watching Wyn’s attempts at opening them, a can opener.

These little guys, Wyn thought as he leaned against the side of Kao’s bed, were probably the nicest people in this place.

Their Lord was, well, their Lord. Wyn knew, the knowledge deeply ingrained into his heart, that he was not to question that. Besides, Sikyon had ordered them to use the energy they had retrieved to save Kao. Their Lord cared about them, just in a distant way. 

Wyn had not seen Feld since the rescue, and maybe that was good. He still did not understand the Archon. Wyn realised the ‘training’ fight had been some twisted attempt at helping. He’d seen that Feld cared about some of their comrades from his grief over Agar. Then Feld had saved Kao, and Wyn. 

Wyn wanted to believe Feld was a good person.

Calx on the other hand--

Calx had been by, he realized with a shock. Somehow he had forgotten that.

He tried to recall what had happened. He couldn’t.

Unease settled in his stomach. Feld, Wyn could believe Feld cared about them, but Calx—

Wyn’s thought’s sputtered off and he found himself staring at the blob that played at his feet. It had sort of a twig-like structure sticking out of its face. Maybe he could name it Twiggy.

God, how long had he been rotting in this room anyway? He couldn’t help Kao by just staring at him. He had to do—  
Well, something.

"Uh excuse me." He tried to wave down the attention of Twiggy. "Would it be possible to find me a clock?" Maybe having some sense of time would help. "Do you know what a clock is?"

Twiggy tilted his head until it melted into the side of its body.

Wyn sighed more from exhaustion than disappointment. He had been sleeping beside Kao on and off for so long yet he still felt so tired. At least he'd been able to find a rudimentary washroom, like parts of an IKEA showroom plopped into a carved out corner of cave. However it had gotten there at least the pipes had been connected to something. "No, huh?"

He rolled to face the bed, stared some more at Kao. He thought the form under the sheets was filling out. He hoped it was.

Kao. Kao cared about him. Kao could be testy, was a bit emotionally dense, but Kao’s last action before being impaled had been to try and reach Wyn. Kao could have abandoned him. Ran and escaped. Kao hadn’t. That was what had let him be—

Damnit!

There had to be more Wyn could do. If energy would help Kao heal, could Wyn ask for more? Was that how it worked?  
Maybe he would know if he could remember anything. He had been Kao’s lover; he would have understood how Kao’s biology worked.

Wyn gripped the edge of the bed. He pulled himself into a stand.

Okay.

He was probably going to get horribly lost, but he was going to find somebody that could talk back. He was going to have a nice long conversation and he was going to find out some things.

"Unlock the door for me when I get back, okay guys?" he called to the blobs as he reached for the door.

It opened on his face.

Feld cast a glance over the room, lingering for a moment on the gaggle of blobs as they tried to climb the bed. "Wow, those things get everywhere."

Wyn rubbed his head, startled enough to forget he had wanted to interrogate the man. "They uh, they’ve been really helpful." 

"Sure." Feld only smiled. "Since you’re already up and about, let’s go on a field trip."

*

"Or as I would like to call it, a Feld Trip."

The pun was mostly lost on Wyn as he pushed down nausea. Teleporting: not an experience he was getting used to.

They landed inside a building this time, the lights out but for a bank of fluorescents near the long shuttered windows. Shelves and cabinets of every height surrounded them in a maze of clutter, all available surfaces filled with dusty vases, trinkets, sculptures, boxes. 

"It’s this way."

Wyn followed Feld through the corridors of piled goods, realizing as he passed that they were organized—vaguely—into little rooms of objects, each with their own type of junk, or with a different display style, different price tags. One would be shelves full of china laid out on quilting fabric, another a circle of sagging countertops laden down with metal work, marbles, tools, and a few ceramic black panther statues that gave Wyn a strange feeling of nostalgia.  
Was it some sort of consignment store? Antique, vintage, old stuff like that. It smelled funny but the assorted junk was interesting looking at.

"Feld." There was no one around, few lights, wait a moment. "Is this store open?"

"It’s three in the morning, of course it isn’t." Feld’s path led them to a cluster of plastic display boxes. "Now, there’s a few ways to collect energy, but I’ve found the easiest is to pick up after someone else had done the hard work for you."

Hold on just one moment here. "Feld."

"You know, humans just don’t understand the value of things." Feld picked up a tiny sculpture of a gingerbread man. "They work all day to obtain trinkets like this." He dropped it back into the pile of adorable ceramics, then gestured to another cabinet, this one filled with jewellery, the metal covered in an oily sheen that hinted it had been there a while.

"Uh, Feld?"

A blast of heat took care of the plastic, although it made an awful stench.

Oh god, Feld was robbing the store. Kao was not the only Archon with a compunction for shoplifting.

Feld dragged out one necklace. "When the only item of real value is stuck on a metal chain and priced the same as a hamburger." A snap and the gem was freed from the necklace. Feld tossed it to Wyn.

It was much bigger than what they had used to save Kao. Jagged red, shining, and it was hot, in the holy shit stealing jewels sense. "Feld, we can’t just steal this!"

Feld only shrugged. "Why not? If I hadn’t melted a hole in the case I doubt the owner would even notice it’s missing."

"Just because no one notices doesn’t mean it’s okay—"

"If you take it you can heal Kao, but if we leave it here some human makes five dollars."

Wyn thought of Kao, laying in bed, the shape under the blanket nothing like what it should be for a person. Words of protest did not manage to come.

Feld continued, "Looking these up I read the term ‘blood diamond.’ Isn’t that something? I wonder how many humans died for this thing, and no one but us really knows its worth."

Wyn frowned, unsure at what that had to do with the crystal he held. The gem didn’t even look like a diamond, and it had been only priced at five dollars. Diamonds were more, right? Three month’s salary? Was that just engagement rings? Jewelry was such a mystery. "Uh, I guess humans are greedy?"

Feld made an odd laugh. "That’s also true. Humans are damn weird."

Then again, how did he remember even that much about diamonds? Had he heard it as an Arcon, or while he had been taken by the humans?

"Weirder than us?" Wyn asked. The words sounded like a joke, part of him meant it as one, but--

"You know," Feld said, looking more at the crystal than Wyn. "Chthon was really into humans. What made them 'them' and us 'us.' According to him, I was the most human Archon."

Feld did look at him then, a glance up and down, expression flat. "Well, now you are."

Now he was.

Wyn knew he had been made from rock like the others, but when he saw the people at the snack store, they were who seemed most similar to him. When Feld said they would rob a store to help Kao, the shop owner was who Wyn worried about first. No matter what he knew to be true, his inner loyalties kept skewing human.

The Metallic Knights had brainwashed him. The Golden Knight --

Why couldn’t he shake it?

It was not only that, either. Just how much had they done to him physically? 

None of the other Archontes looked like Wyn. Kao was the closest to his origin, a beautiful ever changing sculpture of living clay. Calx was green. Agar had been a mishmash of bright pastels and impossible hair. Feld could pass as human, but even then only if you did not look too close. His pupils slanted, and his face was off in a way Wyn could not articulate.

Wyn, well Wyn looked like the humans back at the candy store. "Is that why Kao is so put off by me now, because I’m so different?"

Feld shrugged but the smile was back in his words. "Could be."

*

"Just shove it in," Feld had said after dropping off a gagging Wyn in front of Kao’s door. "He’s not-dead enough now to absorb it on his own."

"I—" Wyn swallowed a few times, quickly. Feld was already turning to leave but—"Thank you. For helping Kao."

Feld’s step only paused a second, barely enough for Wyn to be sure it did at all. "Sure, but remember the most important part here: don’t tell Lord Sikyon or Calx about this."

"Yes." They were stealing not only from the humans, but also from their Lord. Sikyon needed the energy, it was their reason for being created. Wyn was a double thief. Great. 

Still, Kao needed it more right now. Sometimes you had to do bad things for good reasons. At least that was how Wyn decided to frame it. "I promise."

"Yeah, yeah. See you when I find another one." With a wave Feld was around the dark corner of the tunnel and out of sight.

Another one, right. This wouldn’t be enough to heal Kao. 

It was night up above them still, maybe he could use that as an excuse for how tired he felt.

Twiggy opened the door and Wyn managed to mumble thanks before rushing to Kao. No change. No change at all.

Okay. He placed the crystal against the bit of Kao’s chest peaking above the sheet. Pressed down. The flesh sucked the crystal in, vague pressure against his hand. Kao was so plastic, it felt wrong doing this. What if Wyn’s hand just went in? You didn’t just shove your hand inside someone’s chest, that wasn’t helpful—

There was a twitch, just a tiny movement across Kao’s face. Wyn thought, maybe, possibly, the muddled mass looked smoother now.

Maybe. Hopefully. Wyn would try sleeping on it.

He began tucking Kao back in, ready to settle on top of the covers when his hand hit something that made a crinkled noise. He dragged the object out with a confused look. A banana Kit-Kat bar? What was that doing in—

Oh. 

Kao had stolen it for him after all.

He let out a shaky breath. 

Wyn fell forward, slouching against Kao’s partial chest. At least he had a course of action now. Do whatever their Lord said. Sneak out with Feld and steal. Kao would wake eventually. Wyn just had to wait, keep working.

Twiggy started to tug on the Kit-Kat. 

"Sorry," Wyn gently shook the blob off. Kao had stolen such a silly thing just because Wyn thought he remembered it. Wyn could do as much back. He would do more. Anything he had to. "Leave this alone, okay, little guy?"

Twiggy toppled sideways, slushing back down to the floor.

"It's okay, little guy." Wyn put the candy bar on the other side of the bed. "We’ll share it when Kao wakes up."


	7. Chapter 7

Weight, warmth, pressure against—

What was that? Not an arm. There were no arms. Not quite the chest. Shoulder. Something. Someone. Touching Kao’s shoulder. The right one. 

That was the right one. Right?

Ugh, a vague attempt to shake it off. He couldn’t even tell which parts where which, to actually use them was futile.

He slept. Sort of.

At some point, Kao’s eyes started to work again. Eventually his ears. He saw things, heard things. Mostly Wyn.   
Wyn hovering. Talking. Touching him. Always touching him. 

Kao was too tired to be annoyed. He only wanted to sleep. At least Wyn was warm. Stupid caves, always cold. How was he supposed to sleep when it was so—

Ow.

Pressing down on the mess of his chest was not conductive to sleep. What was the idiot doing, shoving his hand in there?

"No—" Only once the noise was out of his did he even realize his vocal chords and lips were back. The sound trailed off. 

"Sorry. Sorry!" Wyn’s hands left him, and was that what Kao had been trying to achieve? He’d forgotten. "It’s a crystal. I’m not doing anything weird, I swear!"

There was a long gap in sound as Kao tried to pull his brain together enough to understand what Wyn’s words meant. 

"It’s energy? Can you hear me?"

Energy? Crystals—

Oh.

He didn’t have hands, but he had hair, and enough control to wrap tightly around the first thing it touched that felt like a wrist. Wyn’s hand was dragged back but the corresponding instructions weren’t coming. 

Too cold, too cold to think straight, ugh. Being awake while reforming was the worst.

Wyn was warm. Kao was cold. There was a simple solution and any details were irrelevant.

The next time he woke another crystal was being shoved into his chest and he found he had enough breath to argue about it.

"Why are you doing this?" All this time, effort, risk. Wyn had to be stealing the crystals somehow. There was no way Lord Sikyon would allow so much energy to be wasted. There was no benefit outweighing all this, nothing Wyn was getting from him unless Wyn was just that attached to using Kao as a pillow.

"Uh," Wyn’s eyebrows crinkled as his surprised smile turned to a frown. "I love you." He said it like it was obvious. 

Of course, the stupidest answer possible. What else had he expected from Wyn? It wasn’t really the human’s fault. It was Calx. The Archon shoved some dumb idea in the man’s head and—

And it rankled.

"You don’t even know me." Someone told Wyn that he would do all this for someone and he did? Did it even matter that it was Kao? If Calx had grabbed Wyn and told him he was Feld’s long lost lover then Wyn would have been perfectly content to let Kao crumble to dust?

It was insulting.

It was stupid.

It was even more stupid how much it upset him. 

Wyn’s hand cupped his face, pulling it so Kao had to look at the man unless he went to the effort of moving his eyes, which he just wasn’t up to right now. "I know. I’m sorry. Look—"

Kao, as previously stated, had little choice.

"I think, at this point," Wyn sighed. "I’m probably not going to remember you. Ever. I mean, if I was, it should have started by now. I should have remembered something. So, it doesn’t matter. Even if I never remember anything, it doesn’t matter."

Kao was not stable enough physically or mentally to parse this nonsense.

Yet Wyn continued to vomit out words as if they made sense. "I mean, even if I did, I think whatever the Metallic Knights did to me, means I’m not the same anymore. I can’t—I know that’s got to be terrible but like--my body, the way I think. It’s different. It has to be from how everyone acts. So if you don’t want me, then I understand that."

Wyn’s grip tightened, if Kao had not been what he was, it might had been uncomfortable. "I don’t want that of course! I want you to—I like you anyways! Because of how you’ve helped me, how I know you now."

Kao stared.

Wyn’s grip loosened a little.

Kao continued staring.

"Uh," Wyn said. "Please say something back."

Wyn—

Wyn actually liked him?

The other hand came up to hold Kao’s face. "Are you okay?"

Kao did not understand. Feld was probably right, he was not capable of such things. It had never bothered him. It was how things were, and if it meant he didn’t act like Feld then it was probably a good thing.

But--Something deep within the slosh of clay that was his gut burned. Similar to hunger. Strong enough it hurt.

He wanted.

Kao wanted Wyn’s clumsy rant to make sense. He knew that was dumb, that he was being stupider than Wyn ever could be, but Kao couldn’t ignore any thing that bothered him. Why would he be able to ignore this?

It wasn’t, he reminded himself, as if he had much choice. Lord Sikyon had ordered this. 

Wyn started to pull away. "Okay, um, you probably need to sleep more, yeah? I can stop clinging to you since you’re better. I do have a room somewhere around here—"

"No." It was Kao’s turn to grab Wyn. He wrapped his hair tight around the human’s wrists. "Stay here."

*

Then the strangest thing happened. The Archontes started to win. 

Oh, they didn’t manage to kill any of the Metallic Knights, but they were able to get away with the energy they were after, enough that Lord Sikyon’s chamber stared to almost have light. Enough that Lord Sikyon almost seemed pleased with them.

Almost.

"You did well once more, my dear Wyn." Their Lord once again heaped all the praise on his newest acquisition. Annoying, but Kao let the annoyance sit inside him. It would do no good to complain. 

Really, their success was more likely due to sending out more than a single Archon than anything else. It was so much easier to win when you were not terribly out numbered. 

Wyn had held off the Metallic Knights when they had arrived. Feld, although it vexed Kao to admit this, had done most of the actual work in obtaining the crystal their Lord had sent them to collect. They were still keeping Wyn out of sight for the actual extraction. Well, when the process involved extraction.

That was Kao’s job, handler. Go over here, Wyn. Fight them, Wyn. Don’t look where Feld is killing someone, because apparently Calx was unable to erase annoying morals, Wyn.

As always Wyn tried to deflect the praise. He opened his mouth to speak, but this time Kao was fast enough to jab the man in the side before he embarrassed them. Wyn had not seemed to figure out that just because Lord Sikyon praised you didn’t mean you were allowed to talk back to him.

Once the shininess of having a new toy wore off, Wyn would be subject to the same whims as the rest of them, and it was better his he dropped any troublesome habits before then.

"But we must not rest on our laurels," Lord Sikyon prattled on. "Calx has discovered for me another extremely powerful crystal, one potentially strong enough to move my needs almost to completion."

An image conjured on a wavering sheet of mist. Kao could hear behind him Feld muter something about ‘reading other people’s notes’ and ‘stealing credit.’ Ha, so the information had been found by Calx all right, found in Feld’s room.

Stepping forward, Calx waved towards the picture of a man in a white suit. "See this? Sterlyn Orr, star guest of the Stadium Bridal Convention. He’s known across the world, you know? The genius of the bridal gown, or so they say." Calx’s rolled his lime green eyes. "And he’s bringing along his exclusive collection…"

The mist wavered, and a necklace attached to a giant hunk of rock appeared.

"The Lansdowne Diamond, currently in Orr’s possession. Present from a patron? Something like that."

Crystals tended to be powerful in relation to their size. If this diamond was indeed the sort they were after then yes, it would likely boost their Lord’s collection by a good amount.

However--

Great, Kao was going to have to play more distraction. At least he was getting used to it.

"Now, to get close enough to snatch the crystal," Calx’s words cut through Kao’s thoughts, "Kao will have the pleasure of going under cover as a contestant in the convention’s modeling contest. Don’t worry, you’ll just have to stand there and look pretty."

The green bastard winked.


	8. Chapter 8

"I don’t like this plan," Kao said.

Feld looped the measuring tape around his neck like a noose. "Too bad. Make this longer, the dress is apparently tailored for giraffes."

"Are you sure the measurements are correct?" Wyn asked, again. Wyn had been banned from the tape measure an hour ago. 

"Yes." The tape tightened enough to cut into Kao’s flesh. 

Whether it was having his next big plan stolen by Calx, or just that Calx had been going through his room, Feld was pissed and he was taking it out Kao, regardless of what Wyn thought of the matter.

At this point being manhandled was becoming normal for Kao. Stay still. It would be over soon. Don’t try to murder Feld. 

"You’re strangling him!"

"He doesn’t breathe!"

At least when Wyn manhandled him, none of the behaviour was of the sort that would kill a normal creature. "I hate this plan," he managed to say through a considerably constricted neck.

Feld’s fashion magazines were spread across Kao and Wyn’s room, contaminating every surface. "Turn into this girl," Feld had said, then started adding infinite adjustments and clauses. Wyn’s attempts to intervene had so far proven futile.

"Why does Kao even have to pretend to be a woman?" Wyn had tried. "Men get married too!"

It was hard to find Wyn’s defence of Kao’s normal shape heartening when Kao knew the man was simply arguing for his preference in forms. But Kao would take it. "I agree. I want to wear a suit." 

"Because Orr doesn’t make suits." Feld had just sighed at their feeble attempts to avoid the plan. "The contest does not involve any suits. It involves young brides winning an immediate private meeting to have him design a custom dress for them to wear with his fancy-ass diamond. Look pretty. Win contest. Grab shiny crystal. Teleport out. Now make a damn C cup, Kao, and remember to keep the waist."

So Kao was forced into a mixture of curved and thinness that Feld’s research had deemed perfect for Orr’s dresses, and he began to look more and more forward to ripping the designer’s heart out. 

So to speak.

"You can’t have white hair. It’ll look weird. Blond maybe, but with this face it’s obviously bleached and Orr said he likes his girls natural." Feld shoved a page in Kao’s face, blocking his view of Wyn’s frown. "Do it like this girl in the perfume ad."

Fine. Dark brown. Vague highlights. 

"Eh, maybe darker. No, don’t lose the texture. You’re just going flat. Stop being so lazy, Kao." Feld yanked a chunk of hair up to the page. "Better. Now tighten your chin line."

If this was ‘natural,’ Kao wondered, why had he never seen humans look like this outside of Feld’s magazines?

Feld looked from the page, to Kao. From Kao to the page. Switched out his magazine for the one with the article on Orr. "Hm. You know, most of the models Orr’s using are a different race than this. Maybe we should start over."

Right, that was it. Patience gone. Kao was done. He jerked out of grasp, but before he had a chance to shove the magazines down Feld’s annoying mouth, Wyn was pulling him away and off the floor.

"I’m sure it’s fine! Let’s just polish any details tomorrow morning." Wyn’s upper body strength was admirable; he managed to keep a semi-flailing Kao off the ground. "We don’t have to be at signups until, what? Nine?"

"Yeah, nine." The bastard Feld had the nerve to look amused. 

Kao gave up and went limp against Wyn’s chest, letting himself be suspended by Wyn’s arms wrapped around his middle, as the rest of his body dripped towards the floor. "Get out of my room, Feld."

Damn smug ass with his stupid magazines and stupid plans. "You want me to leave the tape measure behind?"

At this Wyn once again had to restrain Kao’s struggling. "Get out of my room, Feld!" 

Finally alone.

"Uh, so…" Wyn hefted Kao’s drooping mass a bit higher. "Might as well head to bed, I guess. Early morning and all that."

Well, Wyn barely counted at this point. "Carry me."

"I already am."

It wasn’t so much that he elbowed Wyn, as regular joints would not have allowed such an action in his current pose, but the general body parts and effect were the same. "To the bed."

Wyn made a noise that Kao had discovered meant ‘ah, right I’m dumb and didn’t realize that on my own, thank you for reminding me!’ and duly dragged him towards the bed. Yes, good. The balm to being bossed around for hours was turning the tables. Convenient that Wyn seemed to actually enjoy it.

Wyn bodily flopped them both onto the bed, the sheets billowing up around them. Wyn was courteous enough to take the impact but trapped Kao from crawling away by tightening his grip. Wiggling was met with laughter. This caused more wiggling. Increased laughter.

Kao tolerated it up to a point then made his escape. Not so hard to slip out of someone’s grip when you did not have to remain solid. It took more energy than Kao liked to use, but it was worth it to emerge on top of Wyn with a knee at the man’s throat.

This, oddly enough, Wyn also seemed to enjoy. Especially as in shifting his mass Kao had returned to his more common, blank form. Odd that Wyn so obviously preferred Kao when he looked least human, but then, maybe it was just because it appeared more male. Wyn seemed less comfortable with Kao having breasts than Kao did. 

All of the other Archontes were men, why wouldn’t it be the same for Kao? Just because he could change form didn’t mean he wanted to. He’d spend his days as a blob if he had a real choice in the matter.

But that probably would not have aligned with Wyn’s preferences.

A hand slid up the side of his thigh, dangerously close to the hem of his tunic. Kao hadn’t bothered to wear real clothing when Feld was shoving his form this way and that. Technically he was already naked, but Wyn never seemed to understand how that worked.

"Feld means well." Wyn extolling Feld’s carefully hidden virtues was not what Kao needed to hear right now, but there Wyn went. "He’s a dick, but really he cares about us. He’s just one of those sorts of older brothers that likes to tease—"

A strand of Kao’s hair dug into Wyn’s wrist, solid as rock could be. "If you want to discuss Feld then you’re going to have to do it from the floor."

That shut Wyn up.

"Also," Kao added. "We were all created at the same time. No one is an older brother."

Wyn had either the smarts or the motivation to not retort.

Kao’s hair loosened. They continued.

*

As always it was the after that had any real value for Kao. Wyn was quiet, warm, still grabby but in a looser, sleepier way. Kao enjoyed sleep, and such a situation was conductive to it. He could simply doze off, drooping to fill the space between Wyn’s chest and the wall.

Kao dragged Wyn’s heavy arm over his shoulder. The stupid walls of this place radiated cold and Kao was only as warm as his surroundings. Wyn was if anything a comfortable solid mass and reliable source of heat.

"Tomorrow," Wyn’s voice was muffled by both sleep and the top of Kao’s head. "It’ll be okay, even if we’re split up. I won’t be far. I’ll—promise---I’ll always protect you."

In that cozy moment, lulled into complacency by warmth and an illusion of safety, Kao couldn't be bothered to pick away at the words as useless and false.

*

Registration was hastened by considerable use of Calx.

"Do you have two pieces of ID?"

"Do you have clearance to be back here?"

"Oh, you have a contest pass already?"

"Oh."

"Yes, please go on ahead."

A little piece of paper on a string round his neck and Kao had access to anywhere in the stadium.

A row of curtains sectioning the lower concrete spiral of a corridor was where the party split. Calx to their Lord knew where. Feld and Wyn to roam the endless booths and kill time.

Kao to do most of the work. Ugh.

"Last minute texture check!" Wyn said before lightly kissing the back of Kao’s neck. How Wyn would be able to tell if it was proper Kao had no clue. His major reference in human skin was Wyn, and if Wyn was able to kiss his own neck then Kao had questions.

Feld made a gagging noise. 

Wyn’s hand lingered on Kao’s arm, warm in the drafty concrete tunnels. "You’ll be okay on your own." Kao doubted Wyn’s words were really aimed at him. Arguments over Kao’s look that morning had been interrupted by arguments over whether Wyn could accompany Kao into the dressing rooms.

"Yeah sure, a guy wandering around dressing rooms filled with half naked brides, that’ll go great," had been Feld’s way of shutting that down. "And no, I’m not begging Calx to mind-boogie twice as many humans to make you a volunteer."

It was not as if Kao was against being accompanied, but he stayed silent. It was a pointless fight, and Kao saw no reason to intervene in pointless fights when they had the benefit of distracting Feld from poking at his nose.

Besides, Wyn’s words were right. This wasn’t taking on the entirety of the Metallic Knights, this was wearing a dress. Kao could handle it.

"I’ll be fine."

Wyn’s hand dropped to his side. "Well, we won’t be far."

"Yeah, and if things go sour Kao can just stab everyone," Feld added. "Now let’s go back to that stall with the free samples."

It was a simple matter of following computer-print outs of arrows to where Kao had to go. People scuttled about, most busy reading clip boards, or their phones. Kao was wondering if he really need the paper necklace at all when he was stopped by a short cut of hair and many false pearls.

She yanked the card up, as it if weren’t also attached to Kao’s neck, gave it a steely glance over, then all but tossed it to her right. "Changing Stall 137. Volunteer will bring the dress, and do stand straighter, slouching makes Orr’s dresses rumple."

More print-outs. Something vaguely resembling a room with a curtain for one wall. Kao went in. Stood. Stared at the curtain.  
Was he supposed to take off his clothes now? His clothes weren’t real, so he took the chance to discard them with no witnesses, shifting the bulk into his body. 

The curtain rustled, opened, and a young blonde woman’s head poked through. She looked him up. She looked him down. She settled somewhere around his copy of a strapless bra.

"Gosh," she said. "How does that stay on?"

Kao ignored the question as he had no idea either, and instead pointed to the white glob of fabric she held. "Is that my dress?"

The girl startled, a worryingly familiar expression flashing across her face as she laughed. "Oh! Right, sorry, you’re probably cold." She lifted the dress a bit. A mash of textures in the slightest variations of white. Lace. Silk. Beads. No sleeves. "Might not help, though."

Ugh, fine.

"Okay. Don’t worry." The girl started shuffling the dress around, eventually locating a hole in the fabric. If it was the top or the bottom, Kao had no idea. "I’m Gwen. I’m your helpful volunteer for the day, and I’ve never done this before so it’s good we’re starting early."

Right, Gwen, as if it mattered what the human’s name was, as long as she did her job and Kao was able to do his. Yet he felt he was supposed to answer her even if she had not asked any questions. At least that was what her expectant look appeared to indicate. All he managed was: "Is that supposed to be reassuring?"

She paused. Looked at him in that same way Wyn did when Kao missed some point the man was making that was apparently obvious. Except if it was so obvious why couldn’t Kao understand, and maybe if Wyn used words that described what he actually meant to say instead of words that meant something else—

Just like Wyn the expression turned to a smile of amusement tempered with just enough fondness to extinguish Kao’s irritation at being mocked. Then again, it was possible he was being patronized. "Don’t worry, you’re going to look fine. Step into the hole here."

Kao certainly hoped so after all those hours.

"Okay now hold this." Gwen yanked the dress up around Kao’s waist and tucked the top against his torso. "Let’s see, uh, stay still for this part."

Stay still, let people do weird things. This was his life now, wasn’t it.

"So," Gwen drew the words out as she hooked something into something else around Kao’s armpit. "Getting married, eh?"

Kao lied. "Yes." 

"What's the guy like?" Something sharp dug into the back of his neck as Gwen secured the top. 

Kao squeezed his ribcage a bit tighter to accommodate whatever was happening back there. Ugh, he was going to have to act. Only brides were in this competition, if he didn’t come up with someone to marry—

"Oh! Wait, sorry. Is it a girl? Is she in the competition too? That would be so romantic!"

He took the laziest option. "He is blond. Half a head taller than I am now…"

She only giggled at this. "Uh no, like what kind of person they are. You aren’t marrying him because he’s hot, right?" Her hands paused at the laces. "Wait, right? You know they’re going to ask you about this stuff later, and that might not work out good."

Gwen was right, it was possible she was even a spy for the judges. He could already be losing the competition by being so hesitant in his answers. Fine. Different track. Same lie.

"He’s—" Clingy, naive, not very bright? No none of that would sound positive to other people. "Protective?"

That had to be considered a good quality, yes? Kao certainly considered it as such. The Metallic Knight of Silver, his own personal shield. Although there had been that one disastrous failure, afterwards Wyn’s attention had never faltered. 

Gwen made an encouraging noise. 

"He’s warm." That was another physical trait, really, but the confusion of the English language could work in Kao’s favour sometimes. Physical comfort should never be undervalued. Wyn was a reliable source of it.

Right, that would work too. 

"Reliable." Generally. Except that one time. Although, looking back now it was easier for Kao to push away irritation at Wyn’s failure when he could recall the endless apologies. It was strangely easy to forgive many things when remembering what Wyn has said after.

"He loves me." It was the excuse Wyn always gave for his actions. That he gave for doing what Kao told him to. For wanting to constantly be with him. For tending to a useless pile of clay until it could walk again. For Kao being worth such effort. Being worth anything. 

Kao did not understand what it actually meant. When he thought about the words at length he was forced to conclude it couldn’t mean anything. Yet—

It felt important. 

Well. Humans didn’t make sense in anything else so why not this too? Kao knew he could be just as idiotic as they were.

"Um," There was a slight tug at the hem of the skirt. "Look, I’m going to be honest with you here, I’m just a student volunteer who never dated in her life but, uh, are you okay?"

He glanced at his own face in the mirror and was displeased to see it frowned. Kao shoved the features back to neutrality. "I’m fine."

The pat on his shoulder was too hot, but his irritation at the touch was focusing. This conversation was meaningless. Dumb. Stupid. Variety of other insulting words. What mattered was getting close to Orr, stealing the diamond, and probably his heart. 

Once more Kao looked in the mirror. The pile of fabric had transformed into a dress. It looked passable. 

Another hand on the other shoulder. Gwen gave a gentle push. "Okay. Now it’s time for the fun of hair and make-up."

Kao stumbled out of the dressing room. "The what?" There was nothing wrong with his hair or face. There had been hours wasted making sure that there was nothing wrong with his hair or face.

They turned the corridor to face a row of people wielding curlers, flat irons, and hair dyers.

"No." He planted his feet to the ground. The low heat of the dryer he could tolerate, maybe, the rest would crack him and there would be no way to explain that. 

"Don’t worry, those guys are all professionals."

Even if he could explain—

"No." Burning was out. Not happening. Not again. 

"I mean your hair seems nice but it’s their job so—"

"No!" The words came out a bit higher pitched than he would have preferred.

Gwen stopped shoving. "Okay. Um." Behind him he could hear her take a deep breath. "I’m really supposed to make sure you do all the things. But…" She twisted her grip, turning Kao around the corridor until they came to nice, non-heat using stations of makeup artists. "We can pretend you did the hair if you promise to do the make-up."

At least paint wasn’t going to physically damage him. Still, "I was told Orr preferred a natural look."

The artist that stood before them and had likely watched the whole embarrassing scene only rolled their eyes. "Yes, the natural look that so far has taken an hour per contestant. Look we have sponsorships here. Get in the chair."

Gwen steered. Kao reluctantly complied. He was picking battles.

Gwen whispered to the make-up artist: "She’s a little bit nervous today." 

"She has no pores," was the artist’s confused response. "What the Hell kind of primer did you use?"

After being coated in unnecessary dust and mush Kao was free to go. The stage was lit. The designer there. He filed in to the ranks. He did his job. He twirled. He answered stupid questions.

He lost.

*

"Oh my dear, if you so desperately wished to see my jewels you really only had to ask."

Kao had asked. Very plainly. He suspected Orr was drunk.

The winner was off somewhere with her stupid groom. Orr was here in a fancied up change room trying to put a hand down Kao’s front. The fact that the designer of the dress was failing at the task pointed to him indeed being inebriated.

"It is simply too terrible those lousy judges fell for Madame’s sob story but what are you going to do, eh?" Orr tilted precariously towards a vault and began to dial. "I only design. I only care for beauty. We can take some pictures before she has her consultation, yes? Nice, private pictures."

Kao rather doubted Orr’s heart would be worth much but he was looking forward to taking it anyways.

"Huh." Orr’s hands paused as he gaped at the empty vault. "Well. Maybe, we can still have some nice pictures?"

No, Kao’s patience had been near the limit the whole day. This was over. He was getting what he needed and leaving. Now. 

Kao’s arm wrapped tightly around Orr’s torso, branching to keep the drunk still as Kao’s hair tightened into a noose. "Where’s the necklace?"

"Are you looking for this?"

That voice, it couldn’t be—

There the Golden Knight stood, one hand on her hip, the other holding the diamond. The disaster of a day just kept plummeting.

Wait.

"Why do you have that?" Had the Metallic Knights fallen so low as to start stealing crystals as well?

"Uh, well." The Golden Knight’s posture drooped but quickly she composed herself. "I have a completely legitimate reason to be holding this! Unlike you! Now unhand that creep."

The Knight had the necklace. Kao had Orr. In a fight, Kao doubted he could win, but if he used the human he had a chance. "I will trade Orr for the necklace."

The Golden Knight seemed to consider it. Difficult to tell with her head covered by a helmet, but she had not yet summoned her axe. As long as that was not with her, Kao had a moment’s pause before she could attack.

He could manage this, he just had to time everything right and—

The Silver Knight crashed through the door. "Kao, are you all right? I heard—Uh."

Kao went through the motions of taking a deep breath. That seemed to work for humans. It did nothing for him. "Wyn, get the necklace. Then we are leaving."

It was dangerous to set the Silver Knight directly against the Golden Knight like this, but really Kao had no choice. In recent encounters Wyn had been able to ignore anything the Golden Knight said to focus on the fight. If he had to, Kao could always feign being in danger, it seemed the most effective motivator.

But The Golden Knight was the one who hesitated. She looked at Wyn. She looked at Kao. She tilted her head and gestured with the necklace. "Wait a minute here. Wait just a minute. If you’re—Then—Blond--"

It was very odd to hear his most dangerous enemy make such a noise. Unfortunately, she also summoned her weapon to point at Kao. "I do not approve!"

"What?" Any response from Wyn was worrying, but at least he raised his shield at this threat.

"You all look terrible, by the way. Plate armour? For a wedding?" said Orr, who did not seem to understand that having a strand of hair wrapped around his throat meant he should not talk. 

Kao tightened it, then shot a tendril across the room to the Golden Knight’s hand. He yanked the necklace. She didn’t let go. Wyn finally acted and bashed her with his shield. Kao was unfortunately taken along with the momentum.

It became chaotic after that.

When the other Metallic Knights arrived, pushing into the already crowded room, Kao knew the mission was a loss. He did what he could to salvage the disaster of a day. He ignored Feld’s cautions. He yanked Wyn to him. He summoned a portal. He shoved a hand into Orr’s chest and pulled out his heart.

The crystal was anemic. Poorly formed, but still large enough to maybe, possibly, keep Lord Sikyon from going into a full-on rage.

"What are you doing?!" was Wyn’s unfortunate reaction. "That—Put that back!" 

That was far beyond Kao’s capabilities even if he were so inclined. Unfortunately Wyn’s panic allowed The Iron Knight an opening to shoot at them.

They toppled back into the portal. Without the necklace. Without the crystal. Without even the bastard Orr’s body.

Kao crashed against the floor of their Lord’s chamber, taking the full weight of the Silver Knight and all his armour, and looked up to see Calx glaring down at him, a tinge of smugness hinting at just how much trouble they were going to be in.


	9. Chapter 9

Lord Sikyon barely let them get to their feet after Wyn un-transformed before he unleashed his anger. "You dare come back to me so empty handed, so pathetically incompetent—"

Kao had heard this all before. It was survivable, but for one damning difference.

"My Lord, stealing from the humans is one thing, but murder?!"

Wyn was arguing back.

Kao had tried stabbing the man’s foot. Grabbing his hand. Wyn only shook him off.

"This is wrong!" The idiot was going to get himself killed. Not even the pride of having corrupted an enemy would be enough to cover being so directly challenged. This outburst so enraged their Lord that Kao’s dismal failure had been forgotten. "Is this really what we’ve been fighting for this whole time? Murder?!"

If Kao just stayed quiet, he probably would not be punished at all.

But Wyn—

Kao looked away from the fool beside him to their Lord. Their creator, the arbitrator of their existence. Lord Sikyon never looked pleased, but this was the most livid Kao could recall seeing him. Magic twitched at his hands, the sort Kao knew well, and this time—

Could Wyn survived being hit with such an attack as he was now, untransformed? Would the human think to change, and be able to fast enough?

Maybe Wyn really would get himself killed, Kao suddenly thought. The idea was no longer some vague doomed future but happening, right now, judging by the raise of their Lord’s hand. 

So Kao did something incredibly stupid. 

He interrupted. "Lord Sikyon—"

And next he realized, he was splashing into the wall at the other end of the cavern.

‘Oh,’ he thought as the sharp edge of rock stabbed him through the back. ‘Wyn would not have survived this.’

Kao was clay, and it hurt, but not as much as the Iron Knight’s electricity. Kao stayed on the ground only to avoid another blow.

"Kao!" The others were far enough that Wyn’s cry was muffed by distance. Whatever Lord Sikyon said, Kao missed. It was probably a warning. The real rage was out of his system. Now his useless children could scurry off and plan to do better next time. Wyn certainly did, arriving at Kao’s side in a panic, dragging him off the floor as if he had finally understood the danger. Perhaps he did, it was high time. 

Kao did not bother to respond until they were at his room. Until Wyn gently placed him into a sit on the bed and held both sides of Kao’s face with a look of concern that made Kao want to stab him. 

"Are you okay? Nothing’s fallen off, but—"

Okay? Was he ‘okay?’ Every time Kao thought Wyn was not a complete fool--

"Why do you keep siding with them?" Even if he was not in danger of death it still hurt! Even if they had been spared this time it did not mean they would last another! Kao ignored Wyn’s shocked expression. What did Wyn expect of him, to be ‘okay’ with this failure, after everything that had happened? He’d trusted Wyn only for the man to ruin everything! "Why can’t you just be loyal!"

Wyn stepped back, frowning. "Loyal to what? Murder? I can’t be party to killing people, Kao. I can’t. I won’t! I can’t believe you hid this from me. That’s what those crystals are? Souls? Hearts? What the Hell, Kao!"

"Stop." Ugh, this was why they shouldn’t have kept Wyn clueless, why Calx should have found some way to shove the truth in from the start. Fine, there was no going back now. No point in being gentle. "Shut up. If Lord Sikyon heard that, he would kill the both of us instead of just tossing me across the room."

That caused Wyn to freeze. Good, if the idiot had no self preservation then Kao was perfectly happy to throw himself into the motivational pile. It wasn’t even a lie. "Sikyon—"

"Lord Sikyon," Kao stressed the title, "created us, and if we rebel he can just as easily destroy us. It is his energy that sustains us, his mercy that we live."

At this point Kao was all but quoting, but if that’s what it took then he’d say whatever he had to. Wyn had to be shut down right now before he did anything more than rant at Kao. Kao wouldn’t tattle, but the others, well.

"He would just--?"

Kao had forgotten how pathetic Wyn’s lost expression looked. It had not been so distressing to view before, but Kao couldn’t be swayed. Coddling was over. "We were created for a reason, Wyn. It does not matter if you agree with it. Do you think you would have survived if Lord Sikyon had directed his anger on you today while you were not armoured?"

Yet to Kao’s surprise Wyn’s expression only hardened once more. "But that’s wrong. It shouldn’t be like that. Just because you have a kid doesn’t mean you can force them to do anything you want."

"We’re not children, we’re Archontes." What was so hard to understand about this? 

"That doesn’t matter." Wyn grabbed Kao’s hands, grip tight, and stared into his eyes in a way Kao felt had to return. "We have free will, yeah? We shouldn’t have to pretend we don’t. Maybe, look, we could leave…"

It didn’t matter what Calx did, what Kao said. Wyn was human, Kao was forced to remember. He would never become an Archon, he would never understand.

But if Wyn rebelled, he would die. They would die, Kao amended. It was in both their interests to do what he had to do. Kao exploited Wyn’s weakness, which in this case was simply stating the truth. "Raise a hand against Lord Sikyon and you are killing the both of us."

Perhaps not the full truth.

Wyn could leave.

Wyn could go back to his true home, the arms of the Metallic Knights.

Kao couldn’t.

Kao was an Archon. He had no life outside what Lord Sikyon willed. Kao was not about to let Wyn leave him to die.  
"I can’t just—"

"You care more about the lives of strangers than your own or mine?" Kao asked, gripping Wyn’s arm tight. 

Wyn didn’t shake him off, but looked down at him, no longer lost or angry, but sad? Yes, that was right. "That shouldn’t have to be a decision."

"It is."

If Wyn so hated this tiny truth, that their Lord cared not for their lives, that they were guilty of murder, then how, Kao wondered, would he react to the rest of it? 

An unpleasant jolt went through his middle. That couldn’t happen. The moment Wyn found out that everything was a lie, Kao’s life was over. He would have to work harder. There was nothing else he could do. He made himself a form more pleasing to Wyn.

When Kao tugged Wyn down to the bed, Wyn didn’t resist.

*

When Wyn awoke the next morning with Kao curled against him he tried not to think of the previous day. Then Kao awoke and frowned at Wyn’s staring. They didn’t talk. Not a great start.

Then Calx came to their door, announcing Feld had never come back from the mission. Wyn tried to be positive. Just because Feld hadn’t come back didn’t mean they should act like he was dead, yeah?

Kao looked at him as if he were stupid, but the glare still hurt less than the Archon’s words the previous night had.

This whole time, they had all hidden the truth from him. Why? Had he objected to their actions before? Kao hadn’t even seemed surprised that Wyn disagreed with murder, just—

Angry.

Scared.

Wyn stood listening to Calx go on about their next assignment, and couldn’t pay attention to anything but Kao. The Archon had shed the bridal disguise as soon as Wyn had dropped with him to the bed. He looked less human than ever now, features barely pencilled in on smooth stone skin. Kao stood straight, compact, contained.

Definitely scared. A lot of Kao was still confusing to Wyn, but this was easy to read. Once more guilt poked at him. Wyn had fucked up. Kao had been hurt yet again because of his actions, no matter how much Wyn had vowed it wouldn’t happen. If he had to choose between morals and Kao—

"Pay attention." Kao said. He sounded tired.

Wyn gave it a shot. He really did.

Thankfully, this assignment did not seem to involve murder. Too bad it did involve Calx.

"Lord Sikyon has decided that you two require supervision," Calx had said. "With Feld sadly out of the picture, I guess that just leaves me, yes?"

They arrived via nausea-inducing portal in a university, ready to search for the geology department, as apparently the science teacher had amassed a very unique collection of gems.

The moment he stepped into the deserted classroom Wyn felt that something was very off. It wasn’t the normal post-teleportation nausea, he felt something more unnerving, something that stirred his stomach upside-down in a much worse way.

The room seemed very familiar.

"Ka—" He stopped himself. All classrooms looked pretty much the same. This wasn’t weird. 

Then he remembered; he would have never gone to any school, right?

But was bothering Kao with another memory crisis really a good idea? When Kao was already justifiably pissed at him? Probably not. 

Okay. After they got these crystals and got back, Wyn was going to sit down and think. There had to be a third option, there had to be a way. And first, he was going to fix things with Kao. Somehow. He couldn’t do this alone. He wouldn’t. Kao was scared, and Wyn thought he was scared of being abandoned. It had happened already, right? When the Knights had kidnapped him, Kao had been—

Wyn wouldn’t let that happen again. He swore it.

Calx paused at the doorway into the halls. "If only dear Feld had left a map in his notes this would be much faster. Well, perhaps there will be a sign?"

Wyn caught Kao’s hand as they exited. Kao startled, but did not shake him off.

The halls were even more familiar, and with every turn the unease grew. The sunken levels of sitting areas. The water fountains. The hallways of windows filled with half-finished art projects. Even the double doors labelled ‘Biology’ behind which Wyn could see masses of plants in a pile. All of it was familiar.

Wyn knew this place. He couldn’t know this place.

Unless—

He stopped, the suddenness jerking Kao to follow suit. If he had never gone to school the only reason for these memories would be because of the Metallic Knights. That would mean this place had something to do with them as well. "Wait. Something is wrong here."

Kao frowned.

Calx scoffed.

There was a crackle of electricity.

Wyn barely transformed in time to block the spear of the Iron Knight. He pulled Kao tightly behind him, but Calx—

Was nowhere to be seen. Not good.

"Ha!" The Bronze Knight laughed as he entered the building from a side door. "You fell right into our clever trap utilizing the power of Craigslist!"

Craigslist? Feld researched his targets using Craigslist? 

No, okay, not important. "Kao, can you get us out of here?" Please. Quickly.

Kao was flat against Wyn’s back, his harsh whisper in Wyn’s ear. "We can’t return without the crystals."

If this was a trap, were there even crystals?

"Wyn!" the Golden Knight cried out. Oh Hell, they were all there. "Look I don’t want to do this, it might not even work so please, please just remember!"

Wyn had to move fast to block the blow that came from the Bronze Knight. Flaming fists bounced of his shield yet a split-second later he had to twist to block another electrified spear. He tried to keep his back, Kao, to a wall, but they were in a juncture of halls, the closest thing to a wall just an edge where corridors met. 

Completely surrounded. He could keep moving but they were all faster. "Kao," he whispered back. "I can’t get us out of this. Really!"

He felt something tighten around his wrist. He thought it was Kao. Then the Iron Knight pulled, yanking him forward as he lost his grip on his shield, and Kao wasn’t behind him anymore. The Bronze Knight was, massive arms hooked under each of Wyn’s, holding him up and exposed. Open for—

\--The Golden Knight to stab her axe into his chest. 

He was pretty sure he swore but everything got a bit swallowed by pain. So much pain.

"Sorry." There was a wince in her voice as she turned the axe sideways, like it was a key in a lock and not a giant axe in his chest. 

Except, he realized, he wasn’t bleeding, his lungs were still working. Instead he saw lights, and—

And—

And he remembered.

"Tom, hold him up, he’s passing out!"

Thomas, his best goddamn friend since they’d met trying to skip gym by hiding in the equipment room.

"I’m trying but he's kinda heavy here, Ravi."

Ravi, who since elementary school had spent half her days at their house to avoid her brothers and her too-strict father.

"Just set him down! Wyn! Wyn, are you okay?!"

Gwen. 

He’d forgotten Gwen.

This armor flashed and disappeared as he sunk to the floor. Oh god. Shit. How could he have forgotten? How could he have done that? How? 

"Gwen," he croaked. "I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m…"

"Shh, it’s okay Wyn." She ignored his apologies, just hugged him awkwardly around Tom’s grip.

Wyn looked up and over Gwen’s shoulder he saw something white, something in the shape of a human. He stared at it.

No, part of him yelled, that wasn’t an it. That was Kao. Protect him. Save him. From  
—  
The thoughts stuttered as they started to smash against the reality of what had happened. He’d forgotten everyone that had mattered to him. He wasn’t an Archon. He was human. Calx. It was a pile of sick lies shoved into his head by Calx. 

Lies. All of it. Calx. Feld. Lord Sikyon. Agar. Kao.

He had never loved Kao.

Calx had lied.

Kao had lied.

That meant--

Kao stepped back, and Wyn vaguely registered Ravi hefting her spear. Those two things. Probably connected. Kao was in danger.

\--Kao had never—

"Wyn!" Kao’s voice saying his name. Kao trying to get closer but being pushed back. Ravi could easily kill Kao. She almost had before, hadn’t she? Had that been real? That had even happened? He could remember Kao—

\--Kao who had lied about loving him. 

At that sharp realisation the jumbled mess of thoughts sliced apart to make way for anger. When Kao looked to Wyn he glared back, unable to make proper words of what he felt. Go away. Never come back. How could you. I believed you. I trusted you. 

The things I did for you.

Oh, there was the nausea again.

"Oh hell, no Wyn, don’t puke on your sister!" Tom hauled him back fast enough, but by the time he was done, Kao had fled, Wyn wanted to die, and they all had a fun walk back to the house he had forgotten.


	10. Chapter 10

Of course Calx crawled back once the danger was gone, to watch as Kao had to explain how everything had gone wrong. The green bastard stood obnoxiously close, yet for once Kao did not have it in him to care.

What an idiot. What a complete fool. Kao had actually let himself believe that it wouldn’t turn out like this.

Wyn was gone. Wyn knew the truth. Kao had failed more than one mission this night, and if they met again the Silver Knight would kill him. 

That, of course, was if Lord Sikyon did not beat the man to it. Kao had not been flung across the room yet, but it was only a matter of how long their Lord wanted to yell first.

Everything had been pointless. Just as Kao had once thought it would be. He had been dumb enough to forget that. He’d been stupid enough to cling to hope. The damn lie had caught him out. Now who lost?

He was going to die. Wyn hated him. At the moment both facts competed for which upset him the most.

The way Wyn had looked. Angry. Sick.

"I love you."

A lie.

"I’ll always protect you!"

Lies.

He wanted to hate Wyn. 

He couldn’t. 

Kao had lied first. 

With that thought came an unpleasant feeling Kao could not recall having before.

Lords Sikyon was still ranting.

Kao did not bother to listen. That was dumb, any chance of Lord Sikyon sparing him diminished if he ignored their Lord. Yet he just could not manage to care. It was all over, only the details of his death were up for question now.

Just get it over with.

"Oh, Kao, don’t think like that." Calx’s breath in his ear managed to rouse some irritation, but not enough to move away. "Of course there’s still use for you. Perhaps you can even fix all of this. Isn’t that right, Lord Sikyon?"

Ugh, Calx was touching him now. More irritation, yet still not enough to invoke movement. What was the point? If Kao had managed to ruin Wyn then how could be possibly manage anything else? It did not matter.

"Our Lord was of course prepared for such dismal failure." Irritation melted into something gross and green with each word, and Kao didn’t fight it. 

Kao knew what Calx was doing. He couldn’t bother to care. Whatever the fool said, Kao was doomed, and if he could have the benefit of not thinking during it, then fine. 

"Well, as long as you can follow direction," Calx continued with a chuckle. "The Metallic Knights are likely to be taking dear Wyn back to their headquarters now to look him over, yes? So wonderful that Lord Sikyon thought to implant him with energy so easily trackable…?"

*

Wyn had lived in a tiny one-story house surrounded by blackberry bushes run rampant since he had been born. His younger sister had joined him there soon after. Their elementary school was two blocks away. Their high school four. The university where he had attempted a degree, about fifteen.

His parents had died. He’d dropped out. Focused on Gwen graduating, as she had something like an actual plan for a career. Tourism. Sounded good. Volunteer for things. Go to weird events. Wyn helped. He could drive. 

He’d picked Gwen up for one such event, her best friend in the backseat beside her, his bestie riding shotgun. They’d gotten lost. Stopped for directions. Found a weird cave. Magical relics. Ancient aliens. This whole mess.

It hadn’t been so bad at first.

Now...

The walls of the house were thin plaster. He could make out the worried conversation the others were having about him. Gwen had to suspect he heard when she said: "I just, I don’t think it’s good to let Wyn be alone, and I’ll be here, yeah, but—"

Discussion. Some trading off on phoning home. Wyn just kept staring at the blank white ceiling and tried not to be reminded of Kao.

Before, every thought of Kao had been a thrill, many times of guilt, but other things too, better things he’d spent his life thinking he’d never know—

Now he just felt empty.

He needed to put posters up there.

"Hey, guess what?" Thomas’ head popped through the doorway, clearly fake smile on his face. "We’re having a team sleepover party! With girls! One of which isn’t your sister!"

A PlayStation game case bounced off Thomas' head.

"Ravi no, that still had the game in it!"

The others played games, yelled about games, attempted popcorn, offered Wyn popcorn. Gwen sat at the edge of his bed and tried to talk once, but Wyn just said "I’m okay, don’t worry" and "I’m sorry" until she gave up. Everyone else went to bed. Wyn stayed where he was. Staring.

At some point he started crying.

*

"Won’t that hurt you?" Kao had asked. The question had confused him at the time, but now it made sense. Of course Kao wouldn’t know. It wasn’t some handwavey explanation about the Knights changing his body. They’d never done anything like that before. Never done anything before.

"No," Wyn answered. "I mean, it shouldn’t?"

Kao had frowned. "If that’s what you want."

He did.

So—

Was that what is always was, just Kao doing what Wyn wanted? Had Kao ever actually enjoyed himself? It was hard for Wyn to imagine Kao doing something he didn’t want to and not complaining about it, but apparently that had been their entire relationship. 

Wyn had never thought of the Archontes much before his abduction. They were annoying jerks. Kept stealing things. Trying to kill people. Many times they were hilariously incompetent.

Wyn’d never really caught names, just called them ‘that green one’ or ‘I think he sets things on fire or maybe just makes things really hot either way I’d better block it.’

He could remember what happened to Chthon now, far too clearly. For all the Hell Wyn had given Kao over murder—

His guilt hadn’t been planted by Calx. Wyn hadn’t been the one to land the last blow, but he had still been there. He’d helped.

It hadn’t bothered him that they’d just killed a man. He had been too busy trying to not die himself, trying to keep his little sister and their friends alive. Then when it was done, he had just been happy to have made it.

Besides, none of them had ever really seen the Archontes like that, like they were people. So it didn’t count. Chthon hadn’t bled. He’d just crumbled to dirt. Rock. He was just rock. All the Archontes were just rocks.

Kao had shown up a few times. Never fought them directly. It was creepy, how anyone could turn out to be a clay blob monster, but once the jig was up, Kao had always just run away. Empty handed. 

Wyn could see Kao flung from his side, smashing into the cave wall.

Now Wyn knew what happened after.

And then Kao’s hands on him, hair wrapped around places obscene, and Wyn had thought he was helping. Comforting. But he hadn’t. The only reason Kao talked to him, touched him, anything, was because Wyn had been brainwashed into helping Lord Sikyon try to kill his friends and who knew how many innocent people.

Kao was on top of him, arms on Wyn’s chest.

He opened his eyes.

Kao was on top of him, hands on Wyn’s throat.

He blinked.

Kao’s hands tightened.

Wyn was strong even out of his magical armor, but Kao was solid rock, a dense mass solidly pressing down on his windpipe; Wyn’s first yell was strangled off. In the haze of little air and sleep it was difficult to react, but then he remembered. 

Right, magical armour.

The formation of the armour was enough to loosen Kao’s grip, but only his increased strength let Wyn toss the Archon off when Kao twisted hair into the crevices of the sliver. 

The whole house shook as Kao crashed into the wall.

"Kao! What are you--?" Something fell from Wyn like dust. He realized with horror it was broken tendrils of Kao’s hair. It took a moment for the events to all come back together, and by the time Kao was on his feet Gwen was at the door, also transformed.

Kao did not respond. He shifted himself into an upright form, no longer seeming to care if his movements looked like something humanly possible. Then he launched himself at Gwen.

Wyn made it across the room in time to slam Kao back after Gwen struck. The Golden Axe could cut almost anything in two, and Kao wasn’t an exception. The pieces of him bounced, reforming even as Wyn shoved him back again.

Something, Wyn realized, was very wrong. 

Kao never attacked like this. He always tried to avoid physical damage: wrap, bind, not bash. Bashing hurt, and Kao hated pain. What the Hell was he doing?

Then again, Wyn had never known Kao as well as he’d thought he had.

"Uh," Thomas said as he and Ravi piled in behind Gwen. "Why is the blob in your house?"

That was also a good question.

"Kao," he tried again to get a response that wasn’t a flailing attack. "What are you doing here?" How did he even know where Wyn lived? 

Wyn was awake, right? 

There was something so discombobulating to be fighting in full armour inside his childhood home against the guy that for a month he had believed was his lover. Was discombobulating the right word? He wondered on that as he shoved Kao’s next attack back and smashed the Archon through the desk he used to do homework on.

Disconcerting? Distressing?

Just, it was jarring.

Kao against the walls of Wyn’s room. Gwen in shining gold raising an axe. Wyn being conflicted on who he was supposed to be protecting. His brain had never been the best in the group but really this was all too much for him to handle right away, on so little sleep, right after being brainwashed.

And no one had even bothered turned the lights on.

Kao still didn’t respond but now he was surrounded. There was no way, not a chance, Kao could never take all of them at once. That Wyn knew was true.

So what did he do now? 

Wyn didn’t—he couldn’t—watch his friends kill Kao. Even if Kao had lied, and used him, he didn’t want to see that.

His time with the Archontes had been a lie, but still, there was no way they could have been acting the whole time. Some of that had to be true. They weren’t vague drones of Lord Sikyon made of rocks any more, they were people. 

"What the Hell?" Tom clanged his fists together, sparks flying but luckily those were for show, they never seemed to set anything on fire. "You crazy, blob? You think you can take all of us?"

Finally, Kao said something. "No."

His chest unfurled, petals of flesh curling out, and oh shit that was a bomb.


	11. Chapter 11

Wyn was the Silver Knight. His weapon was a shield. His armour was the toughest of them all. His role was defence. He was self-aware enough to know he was suited for it. A whole life had been spent protecting his sister, now there were just a few more people and some weird obstacles tacked on to the role.

So when he saw a bomb Wyn didn’t even have to think. He tackled Kao. He grabbed the bomb. He yanked. Hard. Hard enough that pieces of Kao came off with it. He pushed Kao away, and jumped on the damn thing, shield first.

He had just enough time then to hope the shield held.

Wyn was pushed back. Fell through the floor. 

Wyn couldn’t hear. He could barely see, but he seemed to be in the underground crawl space. The concrete of the crawlspace floor was a loss, but otherwise the blast had been contained.

So much for his room though.

Wyn heaved a good old ‘I’m not dead from that, okay’ breath into his lungs, un-tensed—

And just managed to lift his shield again as Kao slammed a tentacle at him. It was an easy block, a wild swing. What composure Kao had managed before was as dead as the bomb. His whole form shook, more unstable than Wyn had ever seen, even when Kao had been almost dead. Kao wasn’t falling apart because he was cracking off, he just wasn’t able to hold himself together. 

It hurt to look at.

"Kao," saying the name felt weird. Too normal, too familiar, but it seemed to keep the Archon’s attention. "Look, you know you can’t beat us. So just give up, okay?"

"I know I can’t!" The words were garbled by Kao’s movements as he flailed on. Wyn had to concentrate more on making out Kao’s speech than on blocking his attacks. "It doesn’t matter! My Lord tells me to do something, I do it. It doesn’t matter—" 

Earlier arguments slipped out before Wyn realized. "You don’t have to do what Lord Sikyon tells you!"

"Stop talking to the damn thing!" Tom’s voice cut in as he landed in the dark beside Wyn. He slammed his fist together, making sparks. "Let’s end this!" 

End it. Like they had with Chthon.

No, there had to be another option, this wasn’t right. Out of everything that was so confusing he knew that for sure.  
When Tom launched himself at Kao, Wyn blocked it. 

"What the—"

"What are you doing?!" It took a moment to realize Kao had said that. 

Wyn barely swung the shield around fast enough to block Kao. Really, there were times he wished he was duel-wielding the thing. Hell, at least he could trust Tom not to stab him in the back in some suicidal—

Wait.

Was that what this was?

A shove, and Kao’s mass stumbled back, was trapped against the concrete of the crawlspace wall. "I’m not going to kill you!"

"You did when you left!" The words hurt more than they had right to, but Wyn understood what Kao meant now. Kao hadn’t been lying about everything. "So just finish it. Don’t make me crawl back to Pelion in failure once more just so Lord Sikyon gets the honour of the final blow!"

"No-one has to die, Kao!" Wyn could push Kao harder against the wall with the shield, Kao wouldn't be harmed by it. He knew that much and none of this—

"You don't make any sense!" The face that oozed over the top of Wyn's shield was a mockery of every time Wyn had thought Kao beautiful. Uncontrolled, shaky, muted whites mushing through tones, and now Wyn knew any expression close to a smile he thought he saw there was a lie. "Don't you want revenge?"

Wyn's grip loosened, yet Kao did not react. He hadn't even thought of that. Anger, sadness, lots of anger, yeah. But--

The Hell was wrong with him that he hadn't even thought of that? "No!" 

"Well," said a familiar voice behind Wyn's ear. "That's heartening."

In surprise, Wyn turned—

He glimpsed Feld's face for only a moment before here was another violent flash of light, and this time Wyn was in no position to block it.

*

Kao woke up, that was the most surprising part.

Second to that was the face that first greeted him. Feld. Not dead. 

Neither of them were dead unless this shack was some sick afterlife.

"Why are you alive?" Kao asked.

"Why are you?" replied Feld with a smug grin that confirmed his realness more than anything else could have. "Can't even get yourself killed right? I'm impressed. You must have been really something to stop the Silver Knight from letting his pals roast you."

Kao got up on something like an elbow to look at his surroundings more closely. Barely half a dozen steps wide, rough walls of wooden planks, the only furniture the cot Kao lay on and the chair Feld used. "I have no idea what you mean by that but do not explain. Where is this?"

"The Golden Knight's gardening shed." Feld laughed. "Little Wyn's little sister, huh? How cute."

"Gardening shed?" That explained some things, but raised as many questions.

Feld stood with a shrug. "You should have seen the things they hauled out of here to make this space. Terrifying, the things one needs to grow carrots."

Carrots? Carrots were not the point! "Why are we here?" Were they prisoners? If so, was a garden shed really supposed to contain them? 

"After that disaster of a wedding show I decided it was healthier to simply not return home. Clearly I made the right choice. Well, really, I'm surprised we managed to fool Wyn as long as we did. We're so lucky he's dense." Feld shrugged. "I can track the energy Sikyon shoved in Wyn as well as Calx can. I've been lurking about, and when you popped in, well."

So that was what had happened? Feld hadn't been killed, but had just deserted? "Last I remember you attacked both me and the Silver Knight!"

"I wasn't attacking you, I was preventing you from doing something idiotic," said Feld. "Then I was able to fast talk us into switching sides. We've joined the Metallic Knights now, by the way."

"You…" Kao tried to think this through, to find a way where what Feld said made sense and could be true. He came up short. "You betrayed Lord Sikyon, ran away, appeared at the Silver Knight's home, asked to join them, and they agreed?"

"Yup."

"They're not going to kill you?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Or me?"

"Seems so!"

The ideas sat in Kao's mind but could not be sorted. "Tell me the truth. What is going on? Where is this?"

"Oh yes, you're too simple to understand anything not shoved into your mind by our Lord." Feld only shook his head. "It's times like these I wonder why I even try to keep you alive." 

Well that rankled. "You're lying."

"Kao, please, I know you've never been good at understanding humans but I have put work in. Humans are terribly emotional," Feld said. "There is this thing called empathy. While normally humans will be cruel, if it you trigger it they become very good at feeling sorry for you."

"What are you talking about?"

"They can see themselves in anything, lamps in television commercials, a wet dog, two horribly abused servants. This causes an urge to protect the thing."

"I am not a lamp nor a dog." He was, he had to admit, most likely an abused servant, but Feld's argument was too insane to not rebuke somehow. So what if he was? Wyn and the Knights would let enemies stay alive on their property simply because they felt bad? 

Pity, they were being kept out of pity. Like dogs. Or a lamp. Kao could almost understand. The tactic had been what had first bound Wyn to him, hadn't it? Feld had injured Kao. Wyn had protected Kao.

But that was the Silver Knight, surely all humans weren’t that emotionally weak. Was Wyn not special at all? Kao discarded that annoying line of thought and looped back to something more important. "If you could simply leave and change sides like this, why wait so long?"

Feld shot a look at the door. "The only reason I stuck around after Agar was killed was to keep you alive."

Was Feld really saying he had stayed for him? Had Wyn actually been right about how Feld viewed them, had viewed Agar? Was Feld as stupidly sentimental as he claimed the humans were?

No, that made this make even less sense. "If you liked Agar so much then why are you cozying up to the people that killed him?"

"Are you serious?" Feld looked at him then, like he was an idiot, and maybe Kao was, but it still felt unnecessary enough to rouse Kao’s battered pride. "The Metallic Knights didn’t kill Agar."

"What?"

Feld gestured, a quick angry motion. "Lord Sikyon found out about his little hoarding habit. Said Agar didn’t bring in enough to make forgiving him worth it."

It was not as if Kao couldn’t believe it.

"I was there. I saw it. That’s what happened." Lord Sikyon's temper. Agar's comparative frailty. It was simple to picture as Feld spoke. "Sikyon doesn’t give a shit about us, we always knew that, but he’s dumb too, and will kill us just because we piss him off. You’re lucky you got sent out to take the Knights with you, and not just smashed against the wall until it finally took."

Right. Of course Feld would act like there was some sort of opportunity there, Feld had always liked to think he was clever. Now he thought he was clever enough to escape death. "And Chthon?"

Feld stopped. "Chthon did what Lord Sikyon ordered, always, and that got him killed."

"The Knights—"

Feld waved down his words. "I’m going to eat the Knights' fridge empty. You can eat, yeah? Agar said you can. Doubt our hosts will take kindly to running off and grabbing crystals, so get off your ass and come with me if you ever want to get your mass back."

Kao followed, reluctantly. Food would help him re-form. It would be slow, and processing food was usually gross, but it would work. Eventually. Besides, it would give Kao something to do other than think.

*

The woman from the bridal show opened the door when Feld knocked. The Golden Knight, their most feared enemy—even if Feld said otherwise—was a young girl who talked too much and didn't know how to put dresses on people. She was also the Silver Knight's sister. 

Now knowing the truth, the familial resemblance to Wyn was much easier to see. Same yellow hair, similar facial structure, matching pale skin tone, slightly darker eyes. That was easy enough to sort. The bridal volunteer aspect was more difficult.

Their most feared enemy spent her free time poorly putting dresses on people? She grew carrots? 

Kao attempted to reason this all by assuming she resembled her brother in more than physical appearance. Human siblings were supposed to be similar. If one was insane then why not both.

It didn't mean Feld was right.

"He's going to be good?" the Golden Knight asked Feld as she looked down from the top of the stoop.

What an auspicious start; they were already talking as if Kao weren’t there.

Feld barely glanced at Kao, too busy smiling up at the Golden Knight. "If he isn't, you can always kill him."

Her eyebrows even did the same crinkling thing as Wyn's when she was confused, but not happy about something at the same time. Still, she smiled in the end. "Gosh that's super encouraging. Okay, come in."

Produce piled the counters of the kitchen's counters. A fridge rumbled. The edges of everything had their white paint worn off. The Golden Knight started to pull out some mismatched chairs but the other girl—whom Kao presumed to be the Iron Knight—gave him a glare over her mug as Kao sat.

There, an example of Feld's folly. The look on this woman's face was clear. She did not trust them. She would kill them the moment they gave her reason to. At least someone here was smart.

Carrots were offered, the giant pot of coffee beside the Iron Knight was not.

Kao nibbled at the raw vegetable and tried to remember how to form a functioning stomach. Humans had acid, he would have to rely on purely manual digestion. Tedious.

"So, I'm Gwen, this is Ravi. We're all not going to kill each other." Gwen eyed Kao's plate. "If you don't like carrots, I also have mashed potatoes? Also is root beer okay?"

"I'll take potatoes!" Feld held up his plate. His enthusiasm almost looked real. "Root beer is perfectly fine."

The Iron Knight's mug clacked against the table top. "I have had five hours of sleep within the past two days."

"Uh, Ravi—"

"I may be sleep-deprived. I may be running on caffeine." This was the first time the Iron Knight had ever spoken to Kao directly, and she sounded exactly as happy about it as he would have expected. "But even in this state I can take out the both of you, and if you are lying about wanting to join us, I will."

Kao said nothing. Gwen said nothing. Feld eyed the pot of potatoes.

"Last night you did not explain how you found us--"

Feld brightened in an instant. "Easy. Lord Sicky has a tracker in Wyn."

The Knight didn't even pause for breath. "Can we then assume Sikyon knows we are all here?"

Feld nodded.

The Iron Knight poured herself another coffee.

*

Gwen's bedroom walls had been hot pink since she turned eight. Wyn's face smushed against it, head on the mattress, and he counted the holes where thumbtacks had once held up posters of things Gwen no longer cared about. Sleep was not happening. 

"Hey," Tom whispered from behind him, because why sleep on the floor when there was a perfectly large bed? Or as Tom had argued, 'It's not weird, bro. Really. We're not snuggling or anything. There could be spiders on the floor.'

Tom's spider-related issues were inarguable, Wyn had to admit. Still it just seemed weirder now that they were in Wyn's sister's bed.

"Hey!" Tom wasn't really whispering this time. "Are you asleep?"

"No."

"Right." Tom rolled over, so his nose was at Wyn's back. "I'm going to get to the point. Why the Hell are we letting those rocks stay here? They're the bad guys."

Oh boy this was a conversation Wyn really didn't want to have. Stock answer one, go. "The more people against Lord Sikyon the better." 

"We don't need help for that."

Okay, wrong stock answer. Wyn tried again. "I don't think Feld's lying. I've seen Sikyon treat the Archontes like shit, and that was when he was trying to make a good impression on me."

"Doesn't mean the rest isn't a lie."

"Yeah, but—"

"I'm not letting that fucker near you."

Wyn knew Tom wasn't talking about Feld anymore.

"We can't trust it," Tom continued.

"I know that." Still, okay Wyn had to get this issue out of the way. "Kao's not an it, though. Tom, they're people. We can't just kill people."

"So what?" And Wyn knew Tom had ignored everything Wyn had said about them being people. "Look, I get that blob and you were…" Tom trailed off. Wyn was very grateful to be spared the details of what Tom thought they had gotten up to. "It was just messing with you. You don't owe it shit."

Wyn didn't respond for a long time, wondering what to say. There was something very specific about that which had been bothering him all night. Well, it wasn't as if he had anyone else to confide in. "Tom. What is it called when someone sleeps with you only because they’re forced to?"

"What? I don't know. Pretty lame, maybe ra--" Tom cut off on the last syllable. "No. You know what, no. You are the victim here, not that creep. Don't do that thing where everything is your fault." 

"I'm not doing that thing!"

"Yeah, and your sister's pillows don't have frigging unicorns on them!"

"Do they?" replied Wyn. "Maybe I'd know if someone actually shared."

There was movement behind him. A pillow slammed against his head. "Fuck it. I'm checking on the girls. Stay here."

Well, it wasn't like he had anywhere better to be.

*

"Wait, Sikyon knows where my house is?" asked Gwen. "That's… that isn't good."

"It's fine." Feld had the audacity to pat the Golden Knight on the shoulder. "Sicky knows where we are, but we know where he is too. We'll just kill him first."

Kill—

It was, Kao had to admit, the only real way to survive with the Metallic Knights. Lord Sikyon would surely continue to attack. Only with their creator's death would that threat be ended. However, just because a task was necessary didn't mean it was possible. 

Yet it seemed Gwen shared in Feld's insane confidence, for she shrugged and nodded.

Kao forced the last chunk of carrot out of his mouth and into his stomach. "How?" He injected as much incredulity into this word as he could.

Gwen just kept nodding. Perhaps she too was affected by lack of sleep. 

Ravi tapped away at the laptop. "Remove the energy he has stolen, for a start. Surely you and Feld know where that is being stored."

"Then we blow it up!" Gwen added.

"That will only reduce his power." Could Lord Sikyon even be killed? He had existed for centuries, and while humans had once sealed him deep beneath the ground, they had not been able to actually destroy him. Lord Sikyon and mortality, the two ideas did not fit together. "You cannot kill a God."

Perhaps they could chain him, as he once had been, but how even that could be achieved--

Ravi's cup clanked down on the table. "Sikyon may call himself a god, but that does not make him one."

"Oh boy, here we go." Ah, another one fourth of the knights entered the kitchen. The most stupid one, the Bronze Knight, or Ravi called him in a voice colder than the shed outside--

"Tom." She pulled the coffee closer to her, and away from him. "I am too caffeinated to deal with your supposed thoughts on this topic right now."

There were no more chairs for Tom to sit in, but he seemed like he wanted Kao's. The human leaned on the table with one arm, the other at his side, tense as if preparing the punch Kao at any moment. Based on previous encounters, he likely was. "You know. Ravi has very strong opinions on these important theological issues. We never actually argued about one important thing though—"

Ravi made a noise Kao supposed to be a warning.

"—Wyn seems to think you're people. Does that mean you have souls, or what? If I tell you to go to Hell, can you?"  
If Kao had been asked this question in any other context, it would not have mattered. No, Archontes had no souls. He doubted humans did either. The very concept of a separate entity that went to another dimension after your physical form's destruction sounded like a fantasy humans created to feel better about their pathetic lives. Yes, Kao was matter given life through magic, but when the form was destroyed, so too would the energy that gave him life disperse. Humans were the same, just more complicated in their creation.

When you died, you died. If anyone truly believed otherwise, why did they bother trying to stay alive? 

Kao prepared to tell him so—

Feld kicked Kao under the table. 

Thus berating Tom for being an idiot was left to Ravi. 

"Tom!" Important phrases were punctuated by her mug hitting the table. "Think before you say things!"

Feld's glare from the other table was clear enough, he didn't have to mouth 'shut up and let them fight.'  
"Guys!" Gwen tried to intervene, was ignored. "We're friends now. Friends!"

Ugh. This was exactly what Feld wanted, wasn't it? He and Kao were supposed to be pathetic. Allowing the Knights to bicker in defence of them fit that, didn't it? Feld truly had no shame or pride.

Again Kao picked at the carrot. If Gwen went to so much work to fill their kitchen with vegetables, did that mean Wyn actually enjoyed eating such things? Or did he endure to please his sister? Kao was learning towards endure.

"Fuck no, I'm not going to play nice with these monsters! They don't deserve shit, and are probably planning on killing us! Or Hell, worse, like what they did to--"

"Wyn!" Gwen put her cup down loud enough to cut off Tom's last words. "You're up!" 

Her smile turned into a flat line. "Why are you up?"

"I could hear you from the other side of the house." Wyn shrugged, and he didn't look at Kao, just somewhere wandering along the countertops behind him. "If everyone is going to fight over me I'd like to be involved this time."

Everyone shut up. The only sound in the room was the whine of the refrigerator. 

Wyn looked the same as he did the first time Kao had seen him. Too large clothes of thick denim and cotton. Un-brushed hair. 

Except.

Wyn leaned against the frame of the door, yet with a straight back, arms folded. No widened eyes. Mouth a tense line. Not lost or confused, but determined.

Angry.

Perhaps Wyn had the right idea about where to look, as well. 

Feld, because of course it would be him, started a noise, only to be cut off by the sound of an explosion.

So many explosions lately.

The Knights clamoured to the door, barely letting one each other out, Feld joining in the mix. Kao held back. What could this be? The only real option left was—

"Calx!" Feld shouted, because he wasn't one to give up on talking.

So Calx had come to finish Kao's job. But how? Calx had no offensive skill. In that regard at least Kao bested him.

Another explosion. This one shook the walls, dust dropping from the ceiling fan.

Unless of course, he was simply going to blow them all up inside the house.

Lights. Transformations. Kao lingered behind, simply watching from the steps. Oh, a creation. Their Lord hadn't whipped something semi-living up from stone and muck in a while. Would Wyn try to save it too?

"My carrots!" The Golden Knight's priorities confused Kao the longer he was near her. Here was a monster trying to smash her into pieces and she was upset that that it was formed from her sad little garden? 

Then again…

The remnants of his meal weighed him down. Other than the stacked vegetables, cans of soda, and cooling pot of coffee, what other sustenance was there in the empty kitchen? Perhaps Wyn did enjoy this type of food. In Pelion the fare had been cans or stolen take out Kao lied about paying for. Wyn had never complained, but would he have preferred this? 

Well, there weren't going to be any more carrots now, so what was he going to eat? 

The mess of soil was clumsy, slow, but had enough strength that when it brought down an arm even more of the yard was torn up with it, bits of dying grass joining the orange that broke up its muddy brown mass.

There was no reason to move from the door. The Knights would be able to handle the monster just like they had any of Lord Sikyon's creations.

He turned away from it. 

The kitchen, with its dingy furniture, this whole house, it was difficult to believe it belonged to Wyn. What had Wyn's life been before the Archontes had taken him? If he had ever bothered to find out, Calx had never shared.  
Kao had never bothered to find out. The very idea of trying had been too dangerous.

Now he knew and it made no sense to him.

No wonder the plan had failed. Kao had fit with Wyn as well as he fit into this kitchen with its vegetables and green-tinged light.

Wait—

Limbs whipped around, knocking over the table, but Calx's hold on him was strong enough the Archon did not have to dodge.

"Get out," Kao forced his mouth to form the words, if not his lungs to make the sound loud enough for anyone to hear.

"Why?" asked Calx, "The pitiful Knights are having so much fun outside, I wouldn't want to ruin it, eh?"

Kao had to move. He had to make his form to shift. If only he wasn't so pathetic and his body would listen to him.  
Why, he had to wonder, had Calx not just killed him yet?

"Because," and the light turned brighter, now coming from Calx's hand, which reached into Kao. His traitorous form opened to allow Calx access. "You may have been a failure last time, but if I shut your mouth so they do not know about the bomb beforehand—"

Kao was so sick of this. Stand still. Let people do weird things to him. What was he now, just a container for explosives? That—

\--That angered him.

And anger was a great motivator.

His flesh hardened around Calx's hand. 

Calx tugged. Kao didn't let go.

The green faded.

"What are you doing?!" So satisfying to hear the pitch of panic in Calx's voice. 

Kao still didn't have enough control to both speak and keep Calx trapped, so he didn't bother. He could hear that the fight outside was over. Any moment now the Knights would be back. Calx would have his chance to kill them all, but only if he was willing to give up his own life. Was Calx as foolish as Kao? They would soon find out.

Calx still tried to tug himself away. "That's insane! You can't possibly—Let go of me right now!"

Actually, if the bomb was the same type as Calx had shoved inside him before, it would be simple enough for Kao to set it off right now. Take out the two of them, and everyone else would be just fine.

Kao would die, but he'd make sure Calx had nothing close to a victory.

And he was going to die anyways. 

This would almost be like winning.


	12. Chapter 12

"Oi!"

Of course he couldn't have that.

The Bronze Knight's fist slammed into Kao's back, burning hot with enough pain to break concentration, enough force to dislodge Calx.

"Tom! Wait!" The Golden Knight's voice. 

The Iron's was tinged with swearing.

Maybe he heard Wyn shout something too.

Maybe. Kao was more focused on reforming then what was happening around him. At least something caught him so he didn't smash into the floor. Arms, armoured, strong enough to hold him—

When he opened his eyes it was the Golden Knight he found keeping him upright. "Are you all right? What's going on?"

Half of Kao's back was scattered across her floor, did she really think he was 'all right?' 

It was just the sort of thing her brother would have said. Somehow that hurt more than his back.

Well, for the moment Kao wasn't dead, and now he had full control of himself, even if he did still have a bomb inside his torso. At least the structure gave him something to re-form over top. Less effort was appreciated, and it left him armed.

"I'm fine," he said, getting out of her hold and back onto his own limbs. 

"Good!" She was probably smiling under that helmet, like Wyn would. If it had been only a few days ago, it would have been Wyn, and Kao would have been expected to answer—

"Th—"

But the Golden Knight rushed off to deal with Calx taunting her compatriots before Kao could decide if he really wanted to finish the noise.

The other Knights and Feld brushed past him without looking back, or perhaps Wyn paused, but he did not stop.

"Tom, no!"

Calx was retreating, a portal opened by the refrigerator. 

That idiot Tom--

The portal closed.

Tom was gone. So was the fridge.

The others seemed more concerned about the Bronze Knight, but with this and the garden, Kao wondered what exactly they were going to eat.

Maybe he was still dazed. Carrots were not much to reform a torso from. 

"Where did he--?!" Yet the Golden Knight cut herself off with realization. "Oh no."

If the fool had jumped through Calx's portal, then there was only one place for him to be now.

Calx had surely retreated to Pelion. And now Tom was there with him. The likely outcome of this situation was not positive for the Metallic Knights.

And, Kao, supposed, for himself. By trying to stop Calx, Kao's lot was cast. 

"We have to go after him." Wyn's voice from behind him made Kao's reforming flesh jump, but Wyn just walked past to the others, even if perhaps he glanced Kao's way.

It was Feld who stopped beside him, oh so helpfully slapping the damaged back. "Only one thing to do then. How's everyone for a little Feld-trip?"

Run off to Pelion with absolutely no preparation, missing one member of the Knights? Yes of course that would end well. But, as Feld turned to him, Kao understood there was little other choice iof they wanted to save their compatriot.

If Kao was better than Feld for anything, it was at least teleportation. Doubtful Feld could manage a huge group like this, but Kao, possibly. "Fine. Get closer."

"Hold hands, everyone!" Feld shouted, making sure to grab tightly onto the Golden and Iron Knight. "No point getting more separated than we are!"

If the situation had not been so dreadful, then the glare Wyn gave Feld as the Archon clutched at Wyn's sister would have been more amusing. As it was Kao found himself too busy trying to make a portal large enough to fit five people while already leaking energy from his wound. "You could at least help, Feld."

Feld had the audacity to make a kissy face at him.

"Stay close then," Kao ground out. 

The landed near Kao's room, the humans worse for wear.

It seemed the rest of the Knights were as weak to teleportation as Wyn. Even the Iron Knight only managed to last a few minutes after landing before even her armor dissipated and she tried to keep herself from vomiting all over the cavern floor.

So all this time, to defeat the Knights they merely had to teleport them?

Well, too late for that information now.

Kao caught himself staring at Wyn, who valiantly tried not to gag while being waved off by his sister. 

He hovered over her has he once would have over Kao. Had the protective inclination Wyn had shown Kao simply been a transference of his previous relationship with his younger sister? That did not feel like the correct answer but perhaps that was from Kao wanting it to be wrong. 

Kao did not know how human siblings were supposed to act, and Chthon's collection of human media had contained several cartoons where brothers did have a rather intense closeness with their younger sisters.

Chthon had called his collection art. Kao had fled the room.

Feld however, had lingered, maybe something he had learned then was what had him acting so comfortably with Wyn's sister now. Although, the glare Wyn gave Feld when Gwen took the Archon's hand lightened Kao's mood, a little. 

Both men backed off then. Wyn, backing away literally, stumbled dangerously close to Kao. He probably didn't realize.

It was at that moment rocks fell.

*

When Wyn woke, at first he didn't realize. There was nothing to see. No sound. Just strange weight on top of him. Then something like a rope wrapped around his arm, squeezed, tugged, and he realized this wasn't another dream.  
Rocks, he was under a pile of rocks. Cave in. Where were the others? The rocks had fallen. He'd tried to transform, but not quick enough.

Moving hurt, but he wasn't stuck. Although he couldn't see anything, he could feel along the joint of two slabs above him with his free hand. So that was why he wasn't dead. Lucky.

But the others—

"Gwen?!" he shouted.

The thing at his arm tugged harder.

Wait, that meant—

"Kao?" 

He had enough space to transform at least, and in a flash of light the rocks, while still heavy, fell off the top of his shield. 

Rather more forcefully than he would have liked he was tugged from rubble. Kao's hair retracted once Wyn got to his feet. At least Kao seemed okay, even if Wyn couldn't make himself look long enough to really be sure.  
They stood on one side of a pile. What Wyn had been under had not even been that much rubble, the few slabs simply blocking what little light the caves of Pelion had to offer. 

"Are you injured?" Kao asked.

"I'm fine." Like that mattered right now. "We have to find everyone else!"

Kao said something more, but Wyn blocked it out. Damnit, what if Tom had actually been right? Wyn had been an idiot to trust the Archontes. He had let the people who had brainwashed and kidnapped him bring the others right into their homes and now—

"Wyn."

Wyn frantically pushed away rubble. Yelled. Looked for any sign. But no one else was under there.

"Wyn!"

So where were they?!

"Pay attention!"

A tendril smacked the side of his helmet, forcing his face back to Kao, who looked more familiar than ever now that he was pissed. 

"I am trying to tell you," Kao's voice sparked with indignation, and damnit why did that make Wyn feel better? "I already looked. Feld teleported the others."

They—

"There's no bodies. No hole for them to have fallen into."

"Oh," That made sense. That was good.

"Calx must know we are here. I'd suggest we retreat, but I can't teleport again."

If Feld had teleported the others, then where to? Home, another area of the caves? He had to start looking but where first, and how? He turned to face Kao. "Why no—" 

Oh. Wyn had been trying so hard to block out Kao, he'd gone over into being an idiot. Of course Kao couldn't teleport him all over everywhere. He'd managed maybe once an hour when in good condition, and now Kao looked like a wreck. The form was holding together, the annoyed expression was less worrying than the blankness of the kitchen, but—

Wyn had learned enough in those few weeks together that he could tell when Kao was on his last legs. Exhaustion sagged Kao's form. The need to fix that, help him, something, was immediate.

Wyn turned away.

This wasn't working. Wyn couldn't just ignore Kao's presence. He didn't know how to deal with it, but he couldn't ignore it.

He looked up again to see Kao opening a door. Oh, they were at his room. Kao's room, that was.

"I want to get clothes," said Kao. "It's cold here. You decide what to do next."

"Me?" The word probably came out more pathetic than it should have, but Kao had never wanted Wyn to make the decisions before, and now—

The room was just how Wyn remembered. Stone walls, bed, table with cutlery only Wyn had ever used, even the discarded fashion magazines were in the same place they had been, what? A day ago? Two?

"Okay." 

Kao riffled through his closet. Wyn sat on the bed, tried to think. Tried not to think about everything he'd done on his bed.

They had to find Tom. They had to find Gwen and Ravi. And Feld. If Feld had teleported everyone out of danger where would he have taken them? 

Two options made the most sense: Feld's room or back out of Pelion. Kao was in no shape to teleport to the surface yet, so the only place they could check was Feld's room. They could just walk.

He fell back to stare at the rocky ceiling. Maybe they should hit up somewhere for energy to replenish Kao? There was a cache of crystals Kao had hoarded—

Crystals.

Now Wyn knew what they were, could he really let Kao use them?

Well, there was that nausea again. 

Looking at the ceiling wasn't helping. Maybe if he--

"Why are you out of your armour?"

Wyn jerked back as his eyes opened to Kao leaning over him, an arm on either side, far too similar to previous situations.

He froze, trapped between the urge to push Kao off and—

Why couldn't it have all just been real? Not all of it, not the parts where he fought his sister, or was Sikyon's slave, just the part where Kao actually liked him. It had felt so good to believe someone loved him like that. Okay, it hadn't been a perfect relationship in a lot of ways, but so what? He'd liked it. 

Was this like Stockholm Syndrome or something? "I'm tired too, Kao."

'Did you ever even like me?' was not something Wyn had enough courage to ask so instead he said, "Kao, why did Sikyon choose you?" 

That blank look, as if Kao did not really know the answer himself. It first it had been unnerving, then adorable, now it was back to concerning. At least he didn't ask what Wyn meant. "I assumed it was because I am the only Archon that could take a female form."

"That's…" So that explained Kao's strange transformations near the start of their relationship. "I'm pretty sure you noticed, but I'm not really interested in the female form."

"I realized that." Kao's face was way too close. Somehow at this distance any expression he might have was even harder to read. "However, if Lord Sikyon had known they would have chosen Feld."

Wyn had never tried to think of Feld that way, but having it said out loud like that, it was hard not to.

Well, he'd seen the guy in some rather skimpy stuff. Feld wasn't bad looking, really. Kinda buff but not like, a lot. He was an okay guy too, under that weird sense of humour. There was ah, certainly under there were was—

Oh, there was an expression Wyn could read. Kao looked pissed. That, plus the way Kao leaned into him, arms on either side, hair a curtain around them like someone pouring out a bottle of molasses—

Oh god he could his face flushing. This was not the time, especially since-- 

Okay. Stop. Time to focus on the important things here. "I think Feld's more interested in my sister."

Kao's expression twitched, but he did not move away. His words were hesitant. "Feld wants to integrate with the Knights."

"Yeah well he better not try to 'integrate' with my sister." Yeah, okay, being pissed at the idea Feld wanted to mack on his little sister was much a more acceptable feeling to be having right now. Plus it gave him reason to try to get up. 

Kao refused to move, and Wyn was reminded that when Kao wanted to be, his form could be solid as any other rock. "The two of you are very similar."

Wyn was spared from trying to understand what that meant by a sudden crash. 

Shit, the door—

"Get off of him, right now!"

Wyn was at least able to turn his head, although he could tell just from the voice who it was. "Tom!"

Okay, good, that was at least one person to scratch off the list as safe and sound. And he was accompanied by… blobs?

"Yeah, I mean you!" Tom, out of his armor and with several blobs including Twiggy hanging off of his legs, gestured crudely towards, oh, he meant Kao. Right this was not what it looked like. 

Probably.

Kao somehow decided that what was needed here was escalation. "I don't answer to you."

It took a more than gentle shove and a pleading look for Kao to let Wyn sit, but it was a start. "Tom, you're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Tom, however, did not move his glare from Kao. "Kinda seemed like you two were doing pretty 'okay' too."

"Tom—"

"Why are you even here? Where the Hell is everyone else?" Tom didn't look that intimidating covered in adorable blobs but he was trying his best. "Don't tell me that thing got back into your head!"

"No! Uh—" Maybe it would have helped if Kao would stop grabbing Wyn's arm with his hair. "We all followed you, but Gwen and Ravi got separated with Feld. We have to find them!"

"And you two are making out instead of doing that right now because?"

Okay, Tom had a point there. Wyn had to admit that. 

"Kao—" No, Wyn couldn't let Kao take the blame for the delay, Tom was too pissed at him already. "I needed to get supplies."

Tom, well Tom had known him long enough to see through a lie, but also long enough he only sighed and pulled out a bag of chips from the mass that surrounded his legs. "Well supplies I got, so get off your ass. These guys showed me the pantry."

*

Kao said nothing as he lead them down the tunnels to Feld's room, leaving Wyn beside Tom and his entourage of blobs, sharing a chip packet. Still, Wyn glanced at the mass of hair that tangled down Kao's back. He thought he saw an eye or two.

"Yeah these guys led me to like, a closet full of junk. We should take that shit home after we find the girls." Tom gestured towards Kao's back, causing the blob that had been attempting to climb his side to wobble. "Can't that like, teleport?"

"He can't right now," Wyn cut in before Kao could respond. "Kao needs to rest before he can teleport us again."

"Huh." Although Tom looked unconvinced. "What about these little dudes? Can they teleport us?"

"I don't… think so?"

"No." Kao cut into Wyn's last words. He sounded, well, not happy, but not about to start a fight. Yet. "They are not Archontes. They don't have powers."

The struggling blob was scooped up into Tom's arms. "Oh, but I thought they were like, little nicer cuter yous."  
Kao did that thing where he moved the front part to the back without actually turning his body. "Those things are nothing like me! Chthon made them in in an idiotic attempt to—"

To be honest, the difference between the blobs and the Archontes had always seemed limited to Wyn, even when he had thought himself one. If the Archontes were made of rock by Sikyon, and the blobs were made of rock by Chthon, was there really much more difference than level of success? Could Chthon have made people like himself one day, if he hadn't been killed?

"Oh yeah?" Tom smirked. "They don't look much different! Except like I said, cuter. Look at this little guy, he's fucking adorable. You on the other hand--"

Even among the Archontes, there was so much variety, from Feld, to Kao—

The blob happily wobbled in Tom's hands. "Like, have you ever heard of 'uncanny valley' because that's you all over."

Well, it was always the stuff that hit too close to home that pissed you off the most.

"Tom, drop it." As much as Tom could talk shit, he was trying, in his own way, to look out for Wyn. Wyn knew that, it was just not what he needed right now. "Seriously, leave Kao alone."

At least, Wyn thought so. Maybe Tom was right, and he shouldn't look out for Kao. But, well no one else was looking out for Kao, and it sure felt like someone needed to.

Besides, if Kao really was on their side now, then he deserved as much looking out for as Wyn would give any of the rest of his friends. Even if, well, they certainly weren't friends. 

"So," Tom could change topics, but he couldn't shut up. If he was pissed, he was going to be pissed, just maybe pissed about something else. In some ways, he wasn't that different from Kao, although that was a thought Wyn would never share out loud. "How long until we reach that ass's place? This whole cave lair is creepy as fuck by the way. What is this, one of your sister's video games?" 

He pointed to a glowing rock. "Is that the damn save point?"

"Video game?" Kao looked like he wasn't going to be impressed regardless of answer. "This is Pelion, created by Lord Sikyon."

Tom sighed. "So Lord Sikyon is a mole? Nice. Hope he's one of those with the weird tentacle nose."

"He's ah--" Wyn paused. Wait, the others had never actually seen Sikyon, had they? For all the guy talked about having power, he never left these caves. "Sikyon sort of looks like the Emperor from Star Wars on a really high chair."

Kao looked at the both of them with a mixture of confusion and disgust. "What?"

Ah, the awkwardness of references falling flat.

"What do you mean 'what'? Do you not watch movies?" Tom's attention dangerously turned back to Kao. Still, his tone was lighter, more a 'friendly banter' tone than a 'I legitimately want to insult you' tone, which, Wyn had to admit, was probably lost on Kao, as it was with many people Tom talked to. "Do they not have internet down here? Truly this place is Hell."

Maybe this could be saved. "Ok, so Kao, it's this movie in space—"

"I don't care about that," Kao interrupted. "Lord Sikyon isn't merely some man on a chair. None of you seem to understand the amount of power he wields and we have no chance of survival if you insist on remaining ignorant of this!"

Damnit, Tom's attention was fully back and now he looked one hundred percent ready to fight, not just bicker in a friendly way. "We're not ignorant, we're just not as scared shitless of him as you are." 

It wasn't even that, but now was not exactly a good moment to pull Kao aside to explain the concept of dealing with fear by making fun of it. Maybe later. They could watch Star Wars at the same time. Did that happen in Star Wars? Now that Wyn tried to remember, he hadn't watched it since elementary school when they'd had a very lazy substitute teacher.

"Besides," Tom continued. "We gotta kill him someday, right? So why not now? He's here. We're here."

Although, Tom was probably edging towards dangerous bravado. "The others aren't here. Let's just find them and get out, Tom."

"But Ravi had, like, a plan, right? We can at least do that part. We blow up his energy storage thingamagig he's been offing people for. Don't need the others for that."

Okay, that didn't sound nuts. That even sounded doable. Still-- "We need to find Gwen and Ravi though. And Feld."

"Yeah, but—"

"The storage chamber is not far," Kao cut in, sounded almost positive for the first time in—was it days, it had been days, shit. "It is closer than Feld's room. I would like to eat."


	13. Chapter 13

Stalactites, stalagmites, whichever were which they sprang from all surfaces. A rainbow of translucent colours ever changing in each other's glow. Like the inside of a geode on LSD. Like that cave in Mexico that looked like a photoshop, but taken over by Lisa Frank. 

It was beautiful.

It was dead people.

And honestly Wyn wasn't sure what to do about it.

On the one hand: The needed to destroy Sikyon's power source. On the other hand--

"We aren't destroying a bunch of souls, that's fucked up!"

"Tom, it's not like we can bring these people back to life—"

"We did with that wedding guy!" Tom made a gesture. "Boom, shoved it back in and he was fine."

As great as it was to know Wyn was a little less of a serial killer, that wouldn't help here. "There's no bodies to shove these into, and look, these are like, all mixed up together, the crystals get absorbed into these bigger ones—"

Wyn had seen it. Memories once full of pride, now tinged with horror. Now he couldn't even count how many people he'd helped kill, they were all just some mishmash of glowing rock.

And there was another issue. 

"If I absorb this power, I can easily teleport both of you anywhere you wish to be." Kao wanted to eat it. "And I'm hungry."

Worse, Wyn was leaning towards letting him do it. Kao was still injured. They were in enemy territory and about to fight a foe much stronger than them. Leaving Kao like this was forcing him to be useless at best, a hindrance at worse. It wasn't fair and it didn't make sense.

The chips Tom had brought wouldn't cut it. Kao had always preferred crystal energy over 'regular' food. Wyn suspected he couldn't digest it properly.

Even if they said no now, Kao would need to eat eventually.

What were they to do then?

"Ok, do it." What had been done had been done. Wyn could feel shit about it later. Maybe if Kao powered up, he could teleport all this out and then they'd at least have a supply stored. Maybe they could just teleport from room to room until they found the others and save fighting Sikyon for after everyone was on better legs.

"Wyn—!" Of course Tom wouldn't like it. He was pretty serious about this sort of thing. Throughout their friendship it had been one of the few topics off the table. Theology and whatever, they didn't talk about it. This probably wasn't the best way for the issue to have come up.

"If he doesn't, then everyone is just going to go to waste. Look, it's just energy, it's not like, actually their souls." Maybe that would help Tom. "These people have already died, but we can't fix that, and if we want this all to stop, our best option—"

"I can't believe you're saying this!" Even the blobs that surrounded Tom seemed to vibrate with his anger, mixing together in a mash of gray and green tinge. Okay, that was new. "Do you realize what you sound like? This isn't like finding a meat locker full of dead cows or something. These were people!"

He might have been right, Wyn couldn't claim to really know. That didn't help much. "Tom, look—"

"Yeah, I'm looking, and I see you losing your damned mind!" The blobs swarmed around Tom, as if whipped up by Tom's agitation. "I can't let you do this!"

It was bright enough to blind, and only after a few moments of confused blinking did Wyn realize what Tom had just done. "Uh, Tom?" 

The metal gloves steamed as the blobs separated to let Tom, who for some reason thought armour was a good idea right now, step towards Kao. "I knew Gwen hadn't scrubbed you outta his brain! Let's see if dying makes it take!"

The blob's interception caused Wyn to stumble, but he managed to get between them before anything got past bluster. "Tom, calm down. Look, we can—"

Wyn was yanked to the side, and his first thought was to ask what the heck Kao was doing. Then Tom's fist crashed through the wall where Wyn had just been. 

Tom had been known to punch Wyn when he was being an idiot, but not with armour on, and not in a way that would have crushed his head into tiny pieces, holy shit. Here at least Wyn was pretty sure what the answer was. "Kao, stay back, it must be—"

Wyn barely had time to change before Tom's fists hit his shield, forcing him back into the crystal-lined wall. Only the armour stopped him from being impaled. 

Calx.

Ok. If Calx had gotten to Tom, which he must have, then they were screwed. It had taken Gwen shoving some weird magical doohickey into Wyn's chest to fix him, and Gwen—they really needed to find Gwen, not be trying to kill each other.

Another punch hit the shield. "Stop trying to protect that thing!"

Based on his own experience it was pointless. Still, Wyn had to try. "Tom, come on. You're the one being mind controlled here. You followed Calx, remember? What happened after that?"

"Don't try to pull that shit on me, Wyn!" Another blow. "You think I'm brainwashed? You're brainwashed!"

"No, you are!" Okay, arguing failed. And where was Kao? A room of psychedelic rainbow rocks wasn't the easiest thing to scan while keeping his best friend from smashing his head in, but there, in a corner, blobs swarmed over a writhing mass of white. 

Shit. Even Twiggy had turned against them?!

Kicking the blobs made Wyn feel guiltier than shoving Tom back again, but at least he was able to hoist Kao back to his feet with one arm before he had to brace the shield again. This time Kao flattened against his back. "You okay?"

"Fine," Kao didn't sound fine. "We need to move from here. Now!"

"That's easier to say then do." He dug his heels into avoid being pushed back and smushing Kao against the crystal.   
Kao wrapped around his waist, tugging. And even though Wyn was still trying to keep his best friend from killing him, he felt a bit better.

"Look at yourself, dude! This is just like the alley! Can't you see that?!"

That—

Wasn't totally wrong. Kao against his back, fighting Tom—

No!

This wasn't same, he knew what was going on now. Kao wasn't just pretending to be on Wyn's side, Kao wasn't trying to get him to kill his friend.

At least, he was pretty sure—

But he'd felt so sure before.

Wyn's grip slipped. Only a little. Enough for Wyn to be knocked back, against the rock.

Kao yelped. 

Damnit, it was happening again. His resolve wavered, someone got hurt. Why couldn’t he just know what was right and do it?

Tom hit again. Again. And Wyn was pushed further back into the jagged wall. "I can't believe you! After all that shit, you can't forgive that rock!"

No! It didn't matter what Calx made Tom say, or Hell, what Wyn knew Tom actually thought. What had been a lie before, whatever had been true, if Kao was still tricking them, everyone could just shut about it. Wyn was sick of being told what to think. 

He caught the new blow, at an angle, forcing Tom to stumble back. "The only one who gets to decide if I forgive Kao is me!"

A tendril, no, more than what you could call a tendril, there was too much mass for that, a tentacle, shot out, with force Wyn hadn't thought Kao was able to muster. The tentacle hit Tom in the chest. Combined with Wyn's counter it threw him back across the room.

Kao retracted, and Wyn turned to say thanks, but instead found himself pushed as well. Except Kao's energy must have been taken by the previous attack, because he was still too entangled, too slow to get away when Wyn grabbed back, instead almost collapsing into Wyn, even as he tried to shove him again. 

It's possible Kao then yelled something about a bomb. Something suspiciously like 'I told you to move!' may have followed, but words were hard to catch as they fell into the darkness below. It probably didn't help that Wyn clutched Kao against his chest as crystal shards hit them. 

There were flashes of light from the shards of crystal that fell with them, flashing rainbow shapes. Still they fell, long enough Wyn knew they were in trouble. A few floors? His armour and shield could take it. However long this was?

Shit.

The silver shield was—as far as he knew it—unbreakable, it had held off fire, rocks, electricity, weird energy stuff, but it still had some sense of physics. Wyn was pushed back when Tom punched him. He felt when Tom punched him.

Hitting the ground was going to be much worse than Tom punching him.

If Wyn made sure his body was between the shield and Kao, would that buffer the blow at all? Maybe Kao could sort of jump at the last moment, like in those stories about falling elevators? Was that even supposed to work? He'd read something about it in one of the Guinness World record books. The ones that were almost as shiny as the crystals that fell with them. 

And, he now saw, started glowing brighter as below him opened up into light. Also the floor. Rather hard looking floor.

He tried to move, give distance between them and the shield, as if breaking both his arms would help much. Kao had survived being slammed against things before, maybe Wyn's body could be enough of a cushion. Maybe--

Kao, however, seemed to have other ideas. He shifted mass, shoving the bulk of himself between Wyn and the shield, a web of spongy limbs that wouldn't let Wyn move, put him back.

The shield hit the ground. Kao splashed out between it and Wyn.

*

Lord Sikyon kept his source of power close, and so when Kao and Wyn fell, they landed in his chamber.

Perhaps 'landed' was not the right word. Crashed. Splattered. The important matter, Kao thought as he found himself once more splashed to pieces, was that he could survive such things, and Wyn could not.

Kao blacked out to the feeling of Wyn scooping him up in his arms, which meant it had worked. 

Killing Lord Sikyon was insane, but trying to keep Wyn alive almost felt achievable.

When Kao regained enough of his shape to know what was happening, it seemed the fight was already under way. Their Lord had consumed Calx--

(Well, with his energy source blown to bits it wasn't unexpected.)

Feld was having a meltdown.

(Possibly unexpected to Feld.)

\--and the Golden Knight seemed to think chopping down Lord Sikyon's perch was a good course of action. Well, she did carry an axe. It made as much sense as anything.

The pillar that held Lord Sikyon's chair crashed down. It did not harm him, but Kao felt some small satisfaction in their Lord finally having a taste of what it felt like.

"Should teleport," was the first words Kao managed after reforming the necessary components.

"Oh, scrambled eggs is awake." Feld, jerk that he was, ignored Kao's actual message. Also, he looked terrible. Hands far too hot and cracked at the edges shoved Kao's form back against the rubble they were apparently using as defence. "At least duck under a rock or something if you don't want to be fried."

Wait, they were alone. "Where is--?"

"I was left with babysitting duty," Feld cut in. "But if you're awake then just stay here like a good little boy so I can help kick Sikyon's ass. Nuts to what Gwen said, he can't absorb me if I stay far enough away and I'm not letting her get—"

"Feld, shut up." Legs, arms, head, something like a torso. Kao could probably be mobile. "Where is Wyn? We need to escape."

But Feld was already halfway over the top of the rock. "I sure can't teleport five people right now, and by the looks of things you can't either. Stay here, sit tight, and I promise to keep an eye on your boyfriend."

Fine. Kao tested his appendages once more. If everyone was truly committed to this lunacy then sitting here was not an option. 

Crystals from the energy storage had fallen with them. If Kao could eat enough shards then he could teleport as many people as turned out to be in this place.

Lord Sikyon was, at least, having difficulty shooting at so many different targets. Kao slide unnoticed from pile to pile. The once pristine floor was now a mess of crushed rock, some with bits singed off.

There was one eye for where Kao was going. One for where Lord Sikyon was shooting, and another for trying to find Wyn.

There. A shard.

There. Wyn jumping after Gwen.

There. Lord Sikyon blasting through piles of rock. Right at Gwen.

Wyn lunged. Blocked. A glowing circle bubbled through the back of his shield.

\--And then Wyn was flat on his back with a hole through his chest.

*

His shield was supposed to block everything, Wyn kept thinking. But there was a hole in it. There was a hole in him. But it was supposed to block everything.

Maybe if he could just get to his feet and pick the dang thing up it would work properly again. Was that how alien metal magic worked?

"Stop moving!" 

Kao? Kao was okay? Well that was good for a reason he couldn't quite remember just then. Did that mean they'd won?

"Just like, apply pressure? Stop blood?" Was that how this worked? Hey if he could talk it couldn't be that bad. You needed all sorts of things to talk. Lungs, a throat, a mouth. Um.

Kao was on top of him. Really on top. All up on him. Possibly inside him?  
Oh, wow that felt really weird. Weird in a horrifically painful way. 

Whatever Kao was doing inside him, he sure seemed upset about it. "Your blood can't just stop! It needs to go to the right places!" 

Wait, was Kao like, trying to make veins or something in there? That sound complicated. And painful. Which probably explained the pain. Unless that was just the being shot part. "That's—"

"Talking counts as moving!"

What did Kao think he was, a plumber? Running around plugging in pipes to replace the ones Sikyon had disintegrated? This didn't sound like a plan that would work in the long term. Kao couldn't exactly crawl inside and live in Wyn's chest. 

"Your sister can heal you. I've seen her heal! Just stop moving until she's done!" 

Oh, if Gwen was busy then she was okay too. That was good. She was busy. That made sense. Sure it did. At least he thought it did. He was kind of dizzy all of a sudden. Still, better than pain. Maybe, if he just slept for a bit.

"It's okay," it was probably, some part of Wyn countered, not okay at all, but that part was quickly passing out. "When this is over we're gonna go home, and I'll show you those stupid movies I was talking to Tom about, okay? Don't worry, you might like some. We'll make up our own in-jokes. The worst ever."

There was something wrong with Kao's voice, but Wyn couldn't place it just then. "Wyn, stop talking! Please!" Maybe it was the 'please.' That was pretty weird.

"Watch some movies. Play Mario Kart. Work our way up to that cooking game. It'll teach teamwork." He was having trouble making sure he smiled up at Kao. Well whatever. "Probably take a while but yeah, okay. Night."


	14. Chapter 14

Waking for the first time, he thought he saw Kao sleeping beside him, wedged between his body and the pink wall. But when Wyn reached over there was nothing.

When he next awoke, clear headed enough to know anything he saw wasn't a dream, it was Tom who looked over him, playing Gwen's pink Nintendo DS and swearing.

"Oh!" The game was abandoned when Tom saw Wyn move. "Finally you're alive. Can you fucking beat this, because I can't."

Well, it was nice to have confirmation this wasn't some weird afterlife. "Does Gwen know you're using up her lives?"

"She gave me this to distract me!" The DS was dropped onto Wyn's chest. Which although tender, didn't have a hole in it anymore. Nice. "But you're awake so nuts to that. First, I'm gonna apologize for trying to kill you, just get that one out of the way."

"That wasn't—"

Tom waved off his words. "Shut up, what you actually care about is: yes everyone is not dead. Except Sikyon. He's really dead. I won't give you the details because you're a wuss but it was pretty gory."

"Then—"

"Ravi's been passed out almost as long as you, but she ain't dead, just sleep-deprived."

"Okay—"

"Gwen is fine. Getting way too snuggly with that fire guy though. Check on that shit as soon as you're mobile. You two are way too similar."

Okay, slightly concerning in its own way but also led into the last person.

"I don't know where the Hell that guy is." Tom glared at the discarded gaming console. "He kept you alive until Gwen could fix you, helped teleport us back, but after that I haven't seen him."

The screen beeped away, taunting Wyn. Puzzle games were never his strong point. "I thought I saw him here, earlier."

"Maybe," Tom didn't seem too pleased about that. "I've only been hanging out for a few hours. Who knows. Look, Ravi left like, instructions about how if you wake up I have to make sure we really don't have to haul you to the hospital, and strongly suggest food. There was a Safeway run. There's pizza to re-heat if you won't puke it back up."

So, it was all over, and Wyn hadn't even been awake for most of it. At least he'd been sort of useful before getting shot down. At least he hadn't died. He had Kao to thank for that, when he could find him. When Kao wanted to be found. "Sure, yeah that sounds fine."

Pizza was eaten. Terrible puzzles were blunt force solved. Eventually, Wyn decided what was really needed here was a proper shower. After a very unnecessary sniff, Tom agreed and left him to it.

Gwen's room had the luck of having a connecting washroom, although it had the dubious honour of also letting out into the hall. It was tiny, had tiles left over from the sixties, and a cracked tub that took up half its volume.  
That was where Kao was hiding.

At first Wyn thought someone had filled the tub for him, but no, it was Kao, his edges melting into the sides of the bath, asleep. Cute. 

Well, that killed the shower plan. But—

The bathroom wasn't exactly the warmest room in the house, and Kao hated cold. A battered beach towel had been hung up over the edge of the shower curtain-bar. Not a great blanket but maybe it would help. 

As the fabric hit, Kao's eye opened. Oh, so much for that plan too then.

"You're awake," said Kao.

"Yeah," Wyn replied. "Um, isn't it cold in there?"

"It is." Kao's form stretched out, forming back into a more solid human shape. He wore the towel like an old woman's shawl. "I did not want Tom to find me under the bed."

Kao had been sleeping under Gwen's bed? Oh, while Wyn had been the one sleeping in it, right.

Kao had been keeping an eye on him. In his own weird way. 

Still, Wyn couldn't remember the last time he'd vacuumed under his own bed, and there was no reason to suspect Gwen was much tidier since she never seemed to touch the dang device.

"You don't have to hide from anyone here." Although yeah, if Tom had seen Kao lurking under the bed that would have ended poorly. "If you need somewhere to sleep. Well. We're running low on beds in general but there's at least the couch. Well, once Ravi wakes up."

He held out his hand.

Kao's fingers wrapped around Wyn's wrist, the cool smooth texture melting against skin. Damn, he really was cold. Wyn pulled, and instead of simply rising to his feet, Kao fell against his chest, fitting fast against him.

"Uh," Wyn froze. 

"You're warm," was the only explanation Kao gave, sinking deeper into the crevasses of Wyn's form.

Okay, that was comparatively true compared to the bathtub, but—

Screw it, Wyn was too tired and too lately almost dead to think this through. Kao had just been inside his chest cavity, Wyn could handle a hug.

At least until he realized half the reason Kao might be cold was the clothes he seemingly wore were just his own flesh.

"Wait, one sec." If only there was a way to take of his shirt without detangling. Wyn held out his shirt, which admittedly was not Kao's normal style, being both worn out and unwashed. "You'll be warmer dressed. After we can raid my closet. Or Gwen's closet. Mine might have been blown up."

That was actually going to have to be addressed at some point. How much of their house was still intact? What could they even put on the insurance claim for this?

Kao held the shirt. Looked at the shirt. Looked at Wyn.

"This smells terrible." Kao's nose, such as it was, didn't wrinkle, but it twitched.

"Oh," That was probably the whole insides on his outsides thing. Maybe Tom hadn't just been being a jerk before. "Sorry. I guess I should wash up. Maybe just throw that in the laundry bin."

"Yes," replied Kao.

"You'll stick around though, right?" The feeling that Kao would simply run off wouldn't leave him. "I don't mean—Uh, I mean Tom might still be in my room. You could wait here a while. Or even if you wait until I'm done, we can get breakfast." 

Wyn still had no idea how feeding Kao was going to work, but they could at least try coffee. Wyn dearly wanted coffee. 

And they had to talk. About stuff.

Kao kept the eyes Wyn could see on him, but Wyn had the impression that he may have been giving the door a good glance as well. "I see."

"Right, just wait there, okay?" Wyn said as Kao obediently—which was kind of weird really, weird and concerning—sat on the closed toilet seat.

But regardless of how quickly Wyn tried to finish, at some point when he glanced at the shower curtain, finally remembering he had yet to actually thank Kao for saving his life, Kao's shadow was gone.

*

Most of the details Kao didn't care about.

Lord Sikyon was dead, an impossible enough fact to digest. Lord Sikyon was dead. Kao was not. 

Somehow, Kao kept existing without the presence of his creator. What was he supposed to do now? Lord Sikyon had not just given Kao life, but also purpose.

Feld had said the both of them could stay alive by joining the Metallic Knights but even that plan had hinged on Lord Sikyon's presence, and needing protection from it. Wyn and Gwen's home was half a ruin, it appeared Wyn had lost his job due to his unexplained absence, and Gwen had something called tuition. They were not in immediate danger of death, but now new obstacles completely foreign to Kao were popping up everywhere.

All this uncertainty apparently called for celebration, which apparently meant driving an hour to consume strange drinks full of gelatin in a crowded concrete box squished beneath a massive grocery store. On every wall cabinets of plastic tried to sell useless goods. Six creaky chairs shoved around a table. Various dubious concoctions cluttered the table. Some tune that Feld seemed to go morose over on the radio, and over it various employees shouted at each other to remember to add extra mango stars, whatever those were.

Ravi stared down at her oversized cup. "This aloe is squishy."

"Maybe that means it's real," said Tom before taking a loud drink of his slushy that for some reason had a candy bar on top of the miracle whip and sauce disaster that constructed its bulk.

"They say it's real on the website," offered Gwen, who had already finished her half of her shared waffle and seemed to be eyeing Ravi's portion until Feld plopped his ice cream onto her plate.

Luckily for Feld, Ravi just glared at her tea. "My tongue feels weird."

It was up to Wyn to comment on Feld's strange and disturbing friendliness. He gestured, dragging his denim jacket's sleeve across the table. "You don't like ice cream, Feld?"

For some reason Feld decided kicking Kao would be the best cover for his blatant favour-mongering.

Kao jumped, hit the bottom of the table, spilled his 'just plain water' all over his borrowed clothes. 

Wyn's attention was duly distracted as all the napkins on their table were shoved onto him.

So, annoyingly, Feld's plan worked.  
"Try standing under the hand dryer for a while," was Ravi's suggestion.

"Wyn should go with you," added Gwen. 

"No, he shouldn't," said Tom.

"He should!" Feld kicked Kao again. Perhaps this time it was more a shove with his foot.

*

So there they were, several minutes later, trying to dry an oversized pink sweater--Gwen had donated once Feld had mentioned that Kao's clothes weren't actually clothes--under a hand-dryer, with Kao still in it.

Wyn tapped the metal button another time. "Maybe get a bit closer?"

Kao didn't move, glaring at the stain that refused to dry.

"It's not as strong as Feld," Wyn continued, "You won't—"

"I'm not afraid of it!" He was cautious. Completely different.

"I didn't mean that." Wyn tapped the button yet again. "Well, kinda. Okay I guess I did. If only they just had paper towels."

Kao managed to not respond, and let the dryer drone after Wyn's words trailed off.

"Kao." Wyn said after another tap. "Are you, uh, ok?"

Was he 'okay'? Such a Wyn question, but where once it would have angered Kao, now it was—

Dumb questions with obvious answers were simply Wyn expressing concern. Wyn, after everything that had happened, was still worried about Kao.

If Feld was to be believed, then that was good. It meant Kao could survive whatever the world was going to be without Sikyon by cultivating this worry.

Kao did not feel good.

"It's just, you've been kinda quiet." Tap tap. "Less uh, well you didn't yell at Feld and I'm pretty sure he kicked you at least once there."

Don't cause trouble. Let Wyn pity you. Then Kao could stay here. Feld would convince the others to allow them to feed from the crystals left in the wreckage of Pelion. Substance. Safety.

Just lie to Wyn.

Again.

It would work.

Wyn wanted to believe. He wanted all of it to be true anyway. Even with his memories back, even seeing proof that Kao had betrayed, and lied, and—

All Kao had to do was give Wyn what he wanted. If Kao said right then that, yes, he had fallen for Wyn over the time of his deception. The feelings were all real. He loved Wyn just as much as Wyn wanted him to.

Then Kao would be safe. 

"Wyn," Kao said.

All he had to do was play along.

"I can't love you. Feld was right when he said I’m not capable of such things."

Kao had emotions, yes. Upset, anger, hurt, preference, but love? He couldn’t understand it, how could he be expected to feel it? Kao’s emotions were self-based. Love was supposedly not. Therefore, Kao had to conclude he was incapable.

It was not as if Kao wanted to admit this. It was admitting to being defective, lesser than humans, the other Archontes, even. Chthon had said Feld was the most human of them, Kao the least. It had rankled then just to be placed at the bottom of a ranking, no matter the cause.

Wyn frowned, but when he spoke he sounded sure of himself, not sad or even angry. "I don’t believe you."

"You only want me to be able to love because you want me to love you." Kao said it without understanding why. All he had to do was agree with Wyn. Then he'd be safe. Hadn’t he wanted to stay with Wyn? Hadn’t he been happier with Wyn? Why was he trying to drive Wyn away just because Wyn was better off without—

All movement in Kao went still, even the false organs he had created to handle breakfast stopped. "But I can't."

Wyn was better off without Kao.

He was, probably.

"Look, Kao," Wyn's words trailed off, and he didn't sound so sure of himself anymore.

Kao's shirt still wasn't dry.

Someone banged on the washroom's door.

Wyn was the one who turned away, reaching for the door, yet for some reason he jerked to a halt before he could reach it.

Wyn looked down at the tendril wrapped tight around his arm. He looked back at Kao. He looked at the door. Finally, he turned again towards Kao. "Kao, if you don’t like this, just say something, okay?" 

When Wyn tugged, Kao let himself move forward, let Wyn wrap his arms around him. It was constricting, warm. Pleasant.

Kao's form filled any empty space between them, only moving with Wyn's breathing. "I like this."

Wyn didn't say anything back. Kao knew it wasn't enough. He wasn't enough. Feld was right. Calx was right. Tom, Lord Sikyon—

Why couldn't the opinion of the one person Kao liked be the correct one?

Because he did like Wyn. Looking back at that inane wedding convention, the list he had given Gwen had been woefully inadequate. If Kao was as incapable of living without blind obedience as idiots like Feld said, why couldn't he just follow Wyn?

No, blind obedience couldn't work. He argued with Wyn too much. 

Still, he thought as he let the texture of Wyn's shirt imprint into his neck, he liked that as well. It made absolutely no sense, but he did.

Like, want, Kao knew he could managed those.

Wyn believed Kao could manage more.

And perhaps Wyn would be better off without Kao, but one thing Kao knew for certain about himself was he was selfish.

"I can't love you," Kao repeated, grip tightening enough to feel each beat of Wyn's heart as the man tensed, "but I want to."

Slowly, Wyn's form relaxed.

"Okay," he said into Kao's hair. "That's --- okay that's a start, isn't it?"

They stood like that long enough for whoever was outside to bang on the door once again, but this time Wyn only kicked it back. "Occupied!"

Kao snorted into Wyn's collar and almost felt better, less empty. Maybe Wyn was right, it was a start.

The banging returned, louder this time and with muffled swearing.

"Alright." Wyn's voice let Kao go but before Kao had a chance to miss the warmth Wyn's jacket was wrapped around his shoulders and an arm followed. "Let's get back out there, stop Feld from hitting on my sister, steal Tom's laptop, then watch movies on it."

"Can we do it on your bed?" Speaking of want, Kao dearly wanted to be on top of the bed instead of under it this time. It was disgusting down there.

"Well, that's Gwen's bed. We should probably take the couch." Wyn paused as they ducked around the angry man who had been waiting for the bathroom. "Tomorrow we'll go to IKEA, now there's a true test of a relationship."

Kao nodded, let Wyn guide them back to the table, and made sure to kick Feld three times over the course of the next hour. It was a start.


End file.
